Average Jane Crafter

My Kooky Christmas Headband

2011-12-20T13:21:00.000-06:00

Holiday cheers to you! Last week, my husband and I were invited to a small cocktail party in our neighborhood. Tacky Christmas attire (give it up for crazy Christmas sweaters!) was encouraged. I didn't have any crazy Christmas sweaters, but decided to whip up a kooky little headband to wear instead.

It came together so easily, I didn't even think to take step-by-step pictures, but I'll share how I made it below. I was tweeting the progress, so all I've got are some quickie iPhone & Photo Booth pics, but you'll get the idea. It took literally maybe 15 minutes from start to finish, and was a big hit at the party. I may have gone a little overboard and also fashioned a matching ring and set of gift wrap bow brooches to complete the accessory set as well ... What can I say? I hadn't played with a glue gun in a while, and I forgot how easily and quickly hot glue projects come together.

Headband:

- 1 wide headband (I picked a cheap one up at a local drugstore)

- Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash Yarn from Lion Brand Yarn (I got mine from my Whimseybox)

- A set of miniature Christmas trees (I got a pack of about 7 at Michael's last week. They were on sale 50% off and ended up being just about a dollar for the bag)

- Small jingle bells

- hot glue

- Wrap the headband in the glitter eyelash yarn. I left a tail at the beginning and just wrapped around it to secure it. I left about 3 inches just off center for the trees to be mounted. I secured the yarn at the end with a dab of hot glue.*

- Decide how you want to arrange your trees on the headband before you start gluing. Add a dollop of hot glue to the base of each tree and stick 'em on the headband. I ended up putting glue on the bottom and back side of a small tree or two to "nestle" them into the bigger trees.

- Use small dollops of hot glue to secure the jingle bells across the front to hide the massive amounts of hot glue used to add the trees. You're done!

Ring:

- Ring base (similar to this)

- small tree

- sequins

- Aileen's tacky glue

- Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash Yarn

- hot glue

- Use the tacky glue to add sequin "ornaments" to the tree.

- put a dollop of hot glue on the base of the tree and stick it on the ring base

- Add a small piece of the eyelash yarn around the base of the tree

Mini bow buttons

- mini gift bows (I found mine at a drugstore)

- 1" buttons (I had a ton from various events)

- hot glue

- jingle bells

- small Christmas tree

- I wanted to come up with a gift bow brooch, but didn't have any blanks to use. I spied a little bowl of 1" buttons I'd collected at various events over the years and a light went off in my head. I grabbed a few and just hot glued the bows to the button fronts.

- I also put a bunch of hot glue on the back of a tree and smooshed it into one of the gift bows and then glued a few jingle bells on to the front. I pinned them on to my dress in a group and made a festive little bow "corsage."

And, because you stuck with me through all the poorly-lit/focused pictures: an action shot!

Happy Holidays, y'all! :)

* A word of warning: when gluing the yarn to the headband, be sure you let it dry before you try it on. Hot glue is hard to get out of your hair. Not that I know anything about that.

Fabric of the Cosmos Skirt

2011-11-09T18:03:00.002-06:00

Images from PBS.org

We've been watching the Brian Greene, Fabric of the Cosmos, series on NOVA lately and have been completely fascinated. It's mind-blowing in the best way, and I want to watch episodes over and over again just to soak it all in. If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend checking out the PBS web site to watch online.

Of course, as he talks about the "Fabric" of the Cosmos, my brain instantly goes to textiles. I have some ideas for bigger, more complex projects on this subject, but was in need of some instant-ish gratification this week and decided to do a simple skirt to scratch the itch.

This was one of those projects that comes together so seamlessly (pun intended) that you know it was meant to be. As soon as the idea popped in to my head, I could instantly put my hands on just about every material I'd need for the project and it came together very quickly.

For the base of the skirt, I wanted a fabric that resembles the weave used in the graphics in the Fabric of the Cosmos show. I happened to have this awesome Alexander Henry fabric that I got at the Stitch Lab ages ago that was perfect. It's a yummy, heavy fabric with a great cross-hatch print. From there, I pulled out my stash of hand-dyed fat quarters that I made in my surface design class with Kat. I was able to find pieces that resembled each planet (ok, ok, Jupiter is a tad ... psychedelic, but it works!) and did a quick applique. I embroidered the rings of Saturn, but getting the needle through the heavy fabric and the fusible webbing proved much tougher than I'd anticipated. Instead of stitching many rings, my fingers could only stand to stitch one.

I've lost count of how many of these simple, elastic-waist skirts from my Beginning I sewing class at the Stitch Lab I've made. My pattern from the class is starting to show its age, and needs to be re-drawn before I lose it completely. I love how easy it is to create a fun piece of clothing to wear. I may not have the sexiest wardrobe on the planet, but it is fun and personalized. I wear one of these skirts almost every single day, and I'm glad to have this latest geeky one to add to the rotation.

Vintage Embroidery & Craft Goodies

2011-11-08T11:43:00.000-06:00

Over the years, I've built up a nice stash of vintage craft books and magazines. I have a very hard time resisting them when I find them at garage sales and estate sales. I also have a severe weakness for vintage embroidery, crewel and cross-stitch kits and pieces. I've been meaning to share them here on the blog, and was even more motivated after a visit from Diane and Kristin a couple of weeks ago. Having a great stash of vintage craft magazines is fun and all, but it's fun times ten when you get to sit with some of you best crafty pals and read through them together.

Diane already posted about some of the needlework magazines, so I thought I'd share a couple of posts about a particularly awesome book of embroidery transfers I picked up at an estate sale, as well as some other vintage needlework magazines and some of the vintage stationery I've collected as well. Let's kick it off with the embroidery book, shall we?

My daughter actually found this book for me while we were at an estate sale recently. Initially, I almost didn't even thumb through it. It's a thick book of embroidery transfers, but the cover was a little too country kitchen for my taste, and I figured everything inside would be the same. I'm so glad I decided to actually look through it, because while there is a healthy dose of country geese inside, there are also dozens of kooky and cool designs.

The book is called the Keepsake Transfer Collection and boasts more than 1,000 iron on designs. And they aren't kidding - there are loads of great, unique images in this book - not just repeats of things that are slightly modified. You can find it on Amazon used here.

Here are some of my favorites from the book. You can see more over on my Flickr set.

There's a whole lot of win on this page. Giraffe on roller skates? Yes, please! I also love the wacky guy who serves as the test transfer.

Some designs are highly complex, while others are charmingly simple. I love this little popsicle dude.

The book is from the mid-80s (wait, can it still classify as "vintage?") so you know there are unicorns.

What up, bunny with a boom box!? Wait ... what's he doing with his other paw there ... ehhhnnn ...

I love this hot-air-balloon-that's-really-a-gumball-machine.

Who can resist this crafty basket? (or that wee raccoon above it)

There are a lot of kooky food designs in this book. Because everyone wants to embroider sardines ...

... and hot dogs with relish.

After copious amounts of country kitchen designs, the book wraps up with pages and pages of really lovely floral designs that would be beautiful if worked in crewel or punch needle. I'm so glad my daughter convinced me to look through this book. In the end, I think I got it for less than a dollar, and have found it hugely inspiring and fun to flip through. I haven't tried ironing on any of the designs yet, but I have used my light box to transfer one and use it for punch needle embroidery (something I'll be sharing soon). Go grab a copy off Amazon and enjoy for yourself. You can also see a few more samples of the designs over on my Flickr set. More vintage craft/embroidery finds soon!

Today is the First Ever World Wide Space-O-Lantern Carving Day!

2011-10-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

A Yuri Gagarin Space-O-Lantern (I call him, Gagarkin) by me, Rachel Hobson.

That's me with the knife and crazed look in my zombie eyes ... Ahhh ... college days.

Y'all already know that I'm a massive space geek, but what you might not know about me is that I'm also a huge, HUGE fan of carving pumpkins. Ever since I was a little kid, one of my very favorite parts of Halloween was carving jack-o-lanterns. I was always in charge of scooping out the pumpkin guts, because not only did I not mind manhandling the slimy innards of a pumpkin, I relished it. In college, my friends and I would have pumpkin carving parties that were great fun. We'd line our jack-o-lanterns up at the end of the party and get a great picture of them all lit and ready for the front porch.

Awesome STS-120 Space-O-Lantern, carved by Liz Warren

A while back, fellow Space Tweep and brilliant scientist for the International Space Station, Liz Warren (aka - @spasmunkey) posted pictures of the amazing space-o-lanterns she's been carving for ages. Most replicate the patches of various shuttle and ISS missions, and they are all spectacular. She's even posted a time-lapse of a pumpkin-in-process. From the first time I saw them, I joked with Liz that we needed to host a Space-O-Lantern carving party where we could get our space geek friends together and carve pumpkins with space-y images. Last week, we did just that. A small group of Space Tweep friends came over to my house and we spread out in the studio and carved the geekiest, most awesome space-o-lanterns you could ever hope to see. It was a total blast. At the end of the party, we lined the space-o-lanterns up outside and photographed them like we were nerdy paparazzi. We then rolled the telescope out on to the back deck and looked at the moons and stripes of Jupiter. It. Was. Awesome.

Our line up of Space-O-Lanterns: L to R Yuri GagarKin (by Rachel Hobson), Space Shuttle Tribute (by Robert Pearlman), Timmy from Think Geek (by Liz Warren), Space Shuttle landing (by Carl Carruthers), Ghosts - we like to think they are space-y ghosts! (by Sheila) Thanks to our carving cheerleader extraordinaire, Cindy, for taking pictures and live-tweeting the event!

A few days later, we joked on Twitter that there should be a World-Wide Space-O-Lantern Carving Day and decided that we didn't even need to wait until next year to start it. So here we are. The First Ever World-Wide Space-O-Lantern Carving Day, October 28, 2011. What does that mean? Today is a day to carve - on your own or with friends - a pumpkin with some kind of space themed image. Rockets, shuttles, planets - you name it. Anything that celebrates space exploration goes. At our Space-O-Lantern carving party, we had shuttle pumpkins, a Wernher von Braun pumpkin, a Timmy (Think Geek) pumpkin and a Yuri Gagarin pumpkin (or Gagarkin, as I liked to call him).

Awesome STS-130 Space-O-Lantern by Liz Warren

Call your friends and set up a Space-O-Lantern carving party. Share ideas for space-y images and get carving. Share telescopes and look to the skies for even more inspiration. Live-tweet your carving parties with the hashtag #SpaceOLantern. When you've carved your Space-O-Lanterns, be sure to add them to the Space-O-Lantern Flickr group. From here on out, the last Friday before Halloween will now be known as World-Wide Space-O-Lantern Carving Day, so start planning your carving parties now! Next year, I'm totally making a Hubblekin.

Awesome planetary Space-O-Lantern by Jen Scheer.

How-To: Make a Pikachu Pumpkin

2011-10-24T23:05:00.000-05:00

Last week, my son had a school assignment to decorate a pumpkin as his favorite character from a book. Of course, the book he picked was a Pokemon one, and the character he chose was Pikachu. Despite both of my kids having been Pokemon fanatics for a couple of years now, I still haven't quite gotten all the lingo, characters and story lines sorted out, but I do think this yellow "electric type" is a cutie and was excited to see him transformed into a pumpkin.

My son was adamant that he had to do "ALL THE WORK," and for the most part he did. Shortly after starting, we both realized that Pikachu was turning out to be pretty awesome so we decided we'd share the process here with you. It's pretty straightforward, but hopefully you'll see how easy it is to transform a pumpkin into a Pikachu and will want to jump in before Halloween.

We used a small round pumpkin, and since the kids weren't allowed to carve the designs (gooey pumpkin guts on the display in the library would be ... not so awesome) we knew paint was the perfect medium.

Supplies:

1 small round pumpkin
Acrylic paint in bright yellow, red, white and black
1 fine line black paint pen (a Sharpie might work as well, but we happened to have a paint pen on hand)
Assorted sponge brushes (I found an assorted pack of brushes at Hobby Lobby for around $5-6. It included many sizes of rectangular brushes, as well as some round brushes that were perfect for making Pikachu's eyes and cheeks)
A pencil with a new, unused eraser
Cardstock or Mat Board
Hot Glue Gun
Assorted small plastic bowls (recycled applesauce containers are great!)

It took two or three layers of the yellow acrylic paint to really coat the pumpkin. We set up on a scrap piece of cardboard and let my son paint away. He played while each layer was drying & it didn't seem to take to long between coats.

For the eyes and cheeks, we used the round sponge brushes. Put a small amount of paint into one of the small plastic bowls. Dip the brush in the bowl, then dab it against the side of the bowl to remove the excess paint and give it a light, even coating.

Press the sponge brush straight down on the pumpkin and gently rock it around to make sure the entire circumference of the circle gets painted. We practiced a couple of times on the cardboard to get the motion down. My son quickly picked it up and was stoked to see the perfect circles he was able to create with the circle sponge brush.

Place the eyes toward the center of the pumpkin, and the red cheeks just below and to the right and left of the eyes.

For the white portion of the eyes, use your new, unused pencil eraser and dab it in white acrylic paint. Use the same straight-down-rock-straight-up method to apply the white portion of Pikachu's eyes. Check pictures for placement (or, as we did, use a Pikachu stuffed animal as your reference)

I helped my son with the nose and mouth, because the lines are so fine. Matching the lines in your reference drawing (or stuffed animal) draw the small nose and wavy mouth.

For the ears, paint a layer of yellow acrylic paint on mat board or heavy cardstock. Then paint a stripe of black across the top. Cut the elongated triangle shapes out to create the ears.

To attach the ears, hold them in place and surround each one with hot glue (this was the other time I helped my son so he wouldn't burn his fingers) Hold the ear in place while the glue dries enough to set up and support the ears. Once the glue is completely dry, paint the glue with the yellow acrylic paint to help it blend in to the pumpkin. Voila! Pikachu Pumpkin!

My son was so excited to take his Pikachu Pumpkin with him to school this morning. We kept joking that he needed to carry it on his shoulder. And even though I'm not a diehard Poke-Parent, I could still deeply appreciate his enjoyment of turning a plain pumpkin into an awesome Pikachu.

Recipe: Super Awesome Mash-Up Chili/Frito Pie

2011-10-20T10:56:00.001-05:00

I've been on a bit of a cooking kick lately, which is really really strange for me. I've never been very in to cooking (baking, maaaaybe, but not even that much) and I fell even further away from cooking once I had kids. Yeah, yeah - horrible, I know. But nothing is worse than spending loads of time making a nice meal only to have the kids turn up their noses at it. What can I say? Other things were more fun and rewarding than cooking, so I just let it slide and got by as minimally as I could.

And then Pinterest came along. And darn if something didn't just click for me. I guess it's all the gorgeous and easy recipes that get pinned. I started a food board and before I knew it, I was eager to make meal plans and grocery shop. Baffling, right?

It's been going strong for about a month now, and I have to say it's been very nice. I've gotten in to a routine of sending the kids to the showers while I make dinner (and sometimes even listen to my own music, it's amazing!) and I've grown to enjoy that time in the kitchen. Most importantly, though, is that the kids are actually eating what I make and like it. I have no idea where this is coming from, but I'll take it. Our dinners have taken on an honest-to-goodness sit-down-and-chat-about-your-day quality at least 4-5 times a week. That's huge for us.

Last night, I made what might be the best chili I've ever made - or eaten - in my life. I tweeted about it and had several friends ask for the recipe. It was kind of a mash up between Pioneer Woman's Chili Frito Pie and the recipe on the back of a pack of Lawry's chili seasoning. I read several chili recipes online while I was prepping my grocery list and somehow got these two recipes mixed up. I came home with the wrong ingredients. I ended up just kind of winging it between the two of them, and it worked out in my favor.

I know that's the worst picture of food ever, but I didn't realize how good this was going to be until I started serving it. I'm no Pioneer Woman. I don't have gorgeously focused pictures of the cooking process. Forgive me. But I promise, it's still worth making. Enjoy!

Mash-Up Chili Frito Pie

1 lb ground beef
1.5 tsp minced garlic (I keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge & use it in almost every meal)
1 can of RO*TEL diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1 packet of Lawry's Chili Seasoning
1 can of Ranch Style Pinto Beans - drained and rinsed well
1/4 cup masa (I used the tamale version of this brand 'cause it's what PW used)
1/2 cup warm water (plus a little extra - see steps below)
salt to taste
Fritos corn chips - I could only find the giant Scoops kind, but that ended up being perfect. We could have used them as spoons for the chili!)
shredded cheddar cheese
diced onion (optional)

- Put the ground beef and minced garlic in a large skillet and mix and brown over medium heat
- Drain if needed
- Pour in can of RO*TEL (not drained) and the 8oz can of tomato sauce
- Fill the tomato sauce can about 1/4 full of warm water and add that
- Add the drained and rinsed pinto beans
- Add the packet of Lawry's chili seasoning (I also added a smidge more ground oregano)
- Bring to a boil, stirring often, then reduce heat and let simmer anywhere from 20 min to an hour or so (I was waiting for my husband to finish work, so it ended up simmering for more than an hour)

About 15 minutes before you are ready to serve, mix the masa and warm water in a separate bowl. Add it to the chili and stir well and simmer for 10-15 additional minutes.

Fill the bottom of a wide bowl with Fritos and scoop chili on top, sprinkle cheese and onions (if desired) on top of that. It's especially good with Guinness on a cold night. I made cornbread as well, because my husband loves having cornbread with chili, but the corn chips suffice.

Hopefully that makes sense! I'll share links and recipes that we find and love as I can.

Crafty Gifts From Friends

2011-10-07T15:43:00.000-05:00

I've been on the receiving end of some very lovely handmade gifts lately, and wanted to share a couple with you here.

First up is this gorgeous Saori weaving from Pam of Gingerbread Snowflakes (Diane's mom). Pam and Diane have become dear friends over the last few years, and serve as a surrogate crafty family for me. I love 'em! Pam and Diane have done all kinds of cool weaving projects, and I was delighted to receive this one from Pam in the mail recently.

The pictures simply don't do it justice. I never realized how difficult it is to get a good picture of a weaving. It's just near impossible (at least with my photography skills and simple point-and-shoot camera) to capture the depth and beauty of a weaving. Woven in this piece are all kinds of yarns, creating a stunning texture. What really blew me away, though, was the accompanying note from Pam that described the inspiration behind the piece:

When I asked Diane if she knew your favorite color so I could make you a saori, she suggested I make one to represent the "colors" in space.

I have done my best! See if you can fnd the sparkly Milky Way in a veil of clouds; deep space filled with colorful galaxies; nebulae rising into the space about the weaving and a mock spectrograph or two.

It is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received and got me a little misty-eyed. Thank you, Pam!

Last month, I posted on CRAFT about this awesome needle felted Kermit the Frog from Rad Megan. Aside from being a gal after my own heart with the "rad" in her name (my first screen name from waaaaaaay back when - AOL when - also started with "rad") she also adores the Muppets. I feel in love with her Kermit and was excited when she mentioned she was working on more needle felted Muppets, including everyone's favorite frantic scientist, Beaker.

The next thing I knew, Megan was asking for my address and her awesome little Beaker arrived on my doorstep! I couldn't believe it! Such a generous treat. Thank you, Megan! You are - for sure - RAD.

Soon to come: the ups and downs of renovating & living in an older home, adventures in estate sales, excursions around Houston and visits from crafty BFFs.

Some Stitching For Friends

2011-10-05T12:19:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is stitch random, fun projects for friends. There is great pleasure and satisfaction in creating something for someone for almost no reason other than you think they are awesome and you love to stitch. Here are a few things I've stitched for friends lately. Enjoy!

For Millie Motts - The Button Girl
Millie Motts was one of the fist blogs I started visiting years ago. She posts a wide variety of delicious mid-century ephemera, and I've never left her blog not feeling complete inspired or happy. She and I started corresponding a while back, and it was wonderful to see that she's as generous and kind as her posts are charming. She once posted a series of cool 40s button ads that just about left me breathless. Aside from being beautiful, the graceful line drawings begged to be stitched. So I did just that. I stitched one of the profile images right on to an 8X10 canvas and attached a few darling glass buttons at the neckline.

It was a super simple project that I finished in an evening watching television. The irony? Though finished in just a few hours, it took me a YEAR AND A HALF to mail it to her. I'm not kidding. I moved this piece with us to Houston and then shipped it. I have a sickness when it comes to shipping things. I am horrible *horrible* about getting to the post office. Clearly, I need to work on that. Thankfully, she didn't mind and the piece is now at home in her living room.

We did a glasses switch-a-roo at Maker Faire last year.

Hanging out with some rad laminated cotton fabric at the Stitch Lab in Austin.

For Lish - Lishigan
My CRAFT blogging co-hort, Lish, is one of the most awesome folks I've ever met. We hit it off instantly when we first met in person a couple of years ago when she was in Austin for SXSW, and bonded over Swatch watches, Converse and crafting. Lish's trademarks are her glasses and her undying love for her home state of Michigan. Her emails often open with "Hello from the Mitten State" and I always picture her on a map, jumping and waving over the state of Michigan. I decided to stitch a little pick-me-up present after a hard week for Lish a while back, and immediately knew what I wanted to make: a Lishigan stitchery. How better to celebrate Lish's style and enthusiasm than with a Lish-Branded Michigan map? The Upper Peninsula is included for accuracy and because Lish's beau, Nick, stressed its importance to true Michigan folks.

This was also one of my first attempts with honest-to-goodness "fancy" hoop framing, just meaning that I finished the back off with felt and painted the hoop. I was happy with how it turned out!

Nice - for Niku
One of my former Stitch Lab pals and stitchy friends, Niku, recently moved into a new apartment. As part of her "nesting" in the new place, she asked a group of friends if we would be willing to stitch a small, simple piece to hang as part of a needlework collection in her new home. It was a perfect quick-and-easy project, made more fun by the fact it was for a friend. I went a bit willy nilly with it and just dove into my embroidery pattern stash and scraps of fabric (used more of the mumu that was first spotted on my daughter's tooth fairy pillow here) I used Sublime Stitching's rad Epic alphabet and just started picking out letters I thought looked like they would be fun to stitch. I settled on the word "nice" though later, I realized there were a million other words I could have come up with. Ah well, that's the beauty and the downfall of a quickie project - it's fun to dive right in, but you can't have regrets later over quickly-made decisions.

I have an ongoing list of more projects to stitch for friends, and look forward to tackling them after I get through a big book project I'm working on this fall (no, not a book of my own - just contributing a chapter to a friend's book ;) What have you stitched up for friends lately? Tomorrow, I'll be back with some lovely things friends have made for me.

Four Tips for Happy Pinning on Pinterest

2011-10-04T11:45:00.001-05:00

There's been a lot of great discussion lately on some of the downsides of using Pinterest. You can read Diane and Kim's posts that, I think, tackle some of the issues quite well. The comments are also part of a great conversation, so be sure to dive in to them.

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After all this discussion, I thought it might be useful to put together a few basic tips on how to use Pinterest effectively. Pinterest is an amazing resource, allowing you to quickly and easily visually bookmark all kinds of projects, recipes, color inspiration, fashion, decor and more. It satisfies a lot of needs in a very beautiful, simple way. Even though I've been using Pinterest for a year or so, I still consider it a young enough medium/tool that there is an opportunity here to shape how people use it. Before things like poor attribution and improper linking become too rampant, I think there are a few simple things we can do to influence how everyone uses Pinterest.

At the end of the day, we can really only control how we personally use something. If we choose to do our best to stick to a few simple guidelines and habits on Pinterest, that will eventually ripple out and create trends among Pinterest users that benefit everyone.

So here are a few things tips for using Pinterest effectively. If you have others you'd like to share in the comments, go for it!

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Note: I'm including some image examples of how I pinned poorly and then went back and changed it throughout this post. Nobody's perfect, but we can all change, right?

Click Through Before You Repin

Part of the beauty of Pinterest is how easy it is to see something and quickly repin it. Often, the picture is enough to get an idea of what the project or tip is, so the instant inclination is to just click one button to repin and -BOOM!- you're done. Here's the problem, though: Often times, pins are ... for lack of a better word: Wonky. Sometimes they go to just a picture, not a web site. Sometimes they go to the home or index page of a web site or blog, and not the specific entry related to the image pinned, leaving you to scroll for ages to find the post you thought you were repinning. I've even clicked through on a pin only to be directed to a password-protected web site. Waahuh?

If you take a moment to click through before you repin something, you can make sure the pin takes to you the right place, or you can find the right link and repin from there. You may also find (as in the password protected web site example) that the item really isn't worth repinning. Don't perpetuate poor pins. (say that ten times fast) This step may take a few extra minutes, but if everyone starts doing it, before long it will be a non-issue.

Pin Correct Links

When you are pinning something yourself (not repinning something you find on Pinterest) be sure to pin the best possible link you can. If you are reading a blog, check to make sure that you have clicked in to the actual specific blog post from which you wish to pin an image. Don't pin from the index or home page of the blog. You can check the address bar in your browser to make sure you've got the right thing pulled up. This means that your pin will take people directly to the post from which you are pinning, and no matter how many times it gets repinned, they'll always be able to get right to the good stuff.

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Avoid pinning from a google image search. If you find a good image, click through to the web site and pin from there.

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If you are pinning something you've found on Flickr, check to see if there is a blog post associated with the image. Click thought and pin from that post instead.

**UPDATE: Here's a helpful link from June of PlanetJune for tracking down proper credit for creditless photos you find pinned on Pinterest. Excellent tips!**

Use Thoughtful and Thorough Attribution

So often on Pinterest (and, yes, I've been guilty of the same thing, but I'm changing that) I see pins that just have one or two word descriptions. "Cool." "Must try" and nothing else. Instead, get in the habit of taking a moment to write thoughtful and thorough comments to your pins or repins (which, again, means you'll need to click through if the initial pinner didn't include good attribution or descriptions). If you get in to the habit of doing this, your followers will see it and start doing it. As will their followers ... and the ripples keep going, just like pins on boards.

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Type a one-sentence description of what it is you are pinning, and include "by ____" indicating where you found it or who made it. Don't forget to add tags where appropriate - they make for easy searching! (I'm a big fan of the #DoctorWho tag)

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Be Respectful

Think for a moment before you pin something you find in an Etsy shop as "I could totally make this." Most of the discussion of ethics and Pinterest started with Etsy sellers who were upset by folks who were pinning their handmade products on DIY or Crafts to Make boards. As Diane and Kim so beautifully wrote, to some extent, you really relinquish control of your work once you put it out on to the internet. However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't use some common sense and good manners when pinning items. I think much of the unrest could have been avoided if someone had pinned an item in an Etsy shop with a description like: "Beautiful knit piece from XXX Shop on Etsy, $45."

It's easy to get a bit deer-in-headlights on Pinterest because there is such an overload of delicious visual inspiration, but we can't let that keep us from slowing down just for a moment and thinking about how we would want someone to pin our work.

There are many other little things you can do to make your Pinterest experience richer for you and the folks who follow you, but I really think these four big picture guidelines can serve as the foundation for helping grow Pinterest into a vast, well-functioning, respectful resource, rather than a mass of poorly attributed, incorrectly linked mess of pictures (can anyone say Tumblr?).

Now go get pinning!

If you aren't familiar with Pinterest, or are just getting started, here are a few resources for you:

Winner!

2011-09-20T12:01:00.003-05:00

Ah! A bit late on the announcement, but congrats to Holly Taylor, winner of a copy of Sewing With Oilcloth! Here's to many more great oil cloth projects in your future!

Sewing With Oilcloth Book Tour - and a Giveaway

2011-09-07T11:30:00.000-05:00

The bright colors and bold designs of oilcloth and laminated fabrics have always intrigued me. I'm drawn to them, but I'm also a bit ... well ... scared of them. I've never sewn with oilcloth before, and I'm not really sure where to start. I know that - without the right tools and tips - it can be frustrating to work with, but I also know that projects made with oilcloth and laminated fabrics are beautiful and durable. Thankfully, one of my favorite oilcloth gurus has written a book that's a great guide to working with these fun and super functional fabrics.

I've followed Kelly McCants on Modern June and Oilcloth Addict for ages. Her new book, Sewing With Oilcloth, has loads of great projects and wonderful tips and instruction for working with oilcloth and laminated fabrics. Let's take a look, shall we?

Kelly starts Sewing With Oilcloth with great resources to help you succeed with your oil cloth sewing projects. Part of my fear of working with these fabrics was how to make my machine advance them easily and not jam up. Kelly shares several options for helping them feed easily and for what tools work best on oilcloth. She also shows you how to make and attach oilcloth bias trim, which is crazy kinds of cute.

The projects in Kelly's book range from simple to complex and are beautifully practical (something I really love). These nesting bins would be great in the garden shed or kids' bedroom.

These seat cushions remind me of an awesome outdoor lounger my grandparents had in their backyard. How happy would you feel seeing these bold prints on your porch every day?

And here's the project I'm dying to try first from the book: a cute and practical wallet. This one looks like a great starter project with simple lines, easy details and a resulting piece that you'll use over and over again.

A fabric pack from Kelly's Etsy shop: Oilcloth Addict!

If you have trouble finding great oilcloth or laminated fabrics at your local independent fabric shop, be sure to check out Kelly's Oilcloth Addict shop. Her selections are extensive and beautiful.

I picked up this fun cherry oil cloth and dew drop laminated cotton at The Stitch Lab, and now I can't wait to try them out on the projects from Kelly's book! And you're in luck, because Kelly graciously sent a copy of Sewing With Oilcloth for me to give to one lucky Average Jane Crafter reader. Leave a comment here letting me know why you've been scared to work with oilcloth or what successes you've had with working with oilcloth. I'll close comments at 10 AM CST on September 10 and will announce the winner next Monday. For more opportunities to win a copy & to learn more about the book, keep up with the Sewing With Oilcloth blog book tour!

Since I'm personally shipping the book, I need to limit it to US residents. Thanks for understanding!

Rocket, Scissors .... Alien Boobs?

2011-09-06T14:34:00.004-05:00

I'm happy to report that after months and months of a crafty dry spell (hey, moving and renovating a house and a sun-meltingly hot summer can do that to a gal) I'm back in full-on crafting-all-the-time mode. Now that the kids are back in school, I'm able to actually work during the day which frees up my evenings for making stuff. A novel idea, I know. I've had fun stitching projects for friends (a post on those later this week) and random just-for-fun pieces, and flexing my out-of-shape stitchy muscles.

One such project was this random cross-stitch roadtrip sampler. We went to a family wedding over the weekend, which meant I had about eight hours in the car. I'd scored a handy brand new cross-stitch kit at a thrift store last week, so I packed it up and decided to jump into cross-stitching after a long time away from it. I'm not a huge cross-stitch person. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of a craft that requires counting. I'm not number-averse, I just like to craft and let my mind wander. I've had to unpick more projects than I care to remember because my mind wandered when it should have been counting.

Fortunately, I was able to slide right back in to the soothing rhythm of cross-stitches and found it quite fun and relaxing. Since I didn't have a specific project in mind, I just picked some of my favorite motifs from the book and stitched away. When I finished, I posted a picture to Twitter, and my brilliantly hilarious friend, Kari, said, "Rocket, Scissors, Alien Boobs?" and launched us into a conversation over what trumps what (Would alien boob juice melt scissors?). At one point, I thought I'd end up cutting the cross-stitched pieces out and using them for separate projects, but now I think - thanks to Kari - it's become one of my favorite samplers of all time.

The Dreamy Mr. Gene Kelly

2011-08-23T15:19:00.001-05:00

Well hello, fine readers! Hope you had a fantastic summer. We're still melting here in Texas, but the kids are back in school and that means the routine around here is finally getting back in order. Whew!

Today, a group of friends and I are kicking off a fun, easy-going craft-along in honor of one of our all-time favorite film and dance stars: Gene Kelly. You may remember that I have been madly in love with Gene for years, and that way back in my awesome surface design class with Kat, I made a Gene Kelly screen so I could print his face on anything and everything. Because, really, shouldn't his face be on everything?

Last week, some folks started a twitter conversation about a shared love for the dancing super star, and within a short period of time it was decided that we should do a Gene Kelly craft-along. I checked to see when his birthday was, in case it might coincide with when we'd start the craft-along, and Lo! TODAY is his birthday. Such kismet. It's as though he's speaking to us from the other side, saying, "Please! Immortalize me in craft!" Sorta.

So! What does this mean? Well, we are keeping things loose. Mostly, we are interested in sharing a common interest in this amazing actor, singer, dancer (talk about a triple threat!) and to get folks who might not have paid much attention to him before (for shame!) to learn more about and appreciate his work. Any kind of craft is welcome, and there are no firm deadlines - just fun! You can share your Gene Kelly-inspired projects over on our Gene Kelly Craft-Along Flickr group. You can also tweet pics and progress using the tag #GK4EVR. Read Diane's intro post over on CraftyPod!

Let's take a look at why Gene makes my heart swoon:

- That velvety voice: Not just in singing - in talking, too! Dreamy.

- That charming smile: I get all Monkee's Twinkly Eyed just thinking about it.

- That mischievous sense of humor: As though it's not enough that he can sing and dance, now he's gonna make me LAUGH!? Fuhgetaboudit.

- Those dance moves: Really? Turning newspaper into a dancing art form? C'mon, Gene, you had me at shuffle-ball-change.

- That bod: I'm not gonna lie. The fella had a stunning body, highlighted by beautifully made trousers that always accentuated the ... positive.

Some of my all-time favorite movies star Gene Kelly. If you haven't watched any of his films, get on it. Singin' in the Rain is, of course, one of the greatest films ever made, but some of his other lesser-known movies are great fun, too. In fact, one of my favorites will be the inspiration for my Gene Kelly project: Summer Stock. It's a hilarious movie starring Gene, Judy Garland and Phil Silvers. The clothes are simple and gorgeous (this brown and coral dress worn by Judy Garland makes me weak in the knees) and is loads of fun. And no one can forget On The Town and An American in Paris. And if you're wanting to know more about the man himself, you absolutely must watch Anatomy of a Dancer. It's a fantastic documentary on his life and is brilliantly done. (and it's available on Netflix Instant!)

There's something about watching Gene Kelly at work that lifts your spirits in a most delightful way. Blending that feeling with making stuff is a recipe for great fun, so join in on the Gene Kelly craft-along. S'Wonderful!

There she goes ...

2011-07-09T07:47:00.004-05:00

Last launch ever ... and my art is on there

I still haven't really found the words. Be back when I have.

(Well, I found these words just minutes after the launch. They are shaky, tear-filled, nerding-out words, but they came when I was still feeling the power - on all levels - of the launch through my body. So ... ya know ... forgive my blabbering.)

I will say the easiest words to come by right now, though: THANK YOU.

Make Stuff Together! (and a giveaway)

2011-06-30T07:59:00.006-05:00

If ever there was a book that not only inspired me creatively, but also gave me hope for the future, this is it. Kathie Sever and Bernadette Noll's Make Stuff Together book explores crafting as a community effort though creating with family and friends. Simple projects with special meaning make this book a unique treasure.

I'd love to be able to claim objectivity here, but who am I kidding? Bern and Kathie are friends of mine from my days in Austin, and I love them dearly. These are the kind of folks who make your life richer and give you hope in humanity, but not in an annoying, pretentious way. They are genuine and funny and smart and loving and down-to-earth, and Make Stuff Together is a perfect manifestation of their personalities. The essays on crafting as a family, the projects that use upcycled materials - all of it is 100% true to these ladies and how they live their lives. To know them is to love them, and to love them is to cherish this book.

Last weekend, they had a raging book release party at the Stitch Lab in Austin. I was so bummed I couldn't be there. These folks and this community are one of the things I miss most about Austin. What is so wonderful about Make Stuff Together, though, is that I can feel that connection to community and the inspiration of making things through the book - no matter where I am.

Check out their Facebook page and the other stops on their Blog Tour for more information and to see why what these two rad moms from Austin are doing is so darn important.

Lucky You! I was gifted one copy of Make Stuff Together to review, and I have one copy to give away to an Average Jane Crafter reader. I just want to know a favorite crafting memory of yours, and if it involved working with someone else. Did you stitch with your grandmother? Make pine derby cars with you dad? How do you think crafting with someone changes the experience of making things for you? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to leave a way I can get in touch with you. Comments will close at 11AM CST on Sunday, July 3.

Maker Faire prep day 1

2011-05-20T09:28:00.000-05:00

A hugely wonderful day getting ready for Maker Faire! Here are some pics from the day - descriptions and more soon, right now we have to get back to work! :)

Back to the Happy Place

2011-05-18T21:11:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it's already time for Maker Faire again. This year has flown by. I got to San Francisco earlier today and spent a wonderful afternoon with Natalie. Tonight, I get to see Lish and Nick for dinner & tomorrow I'll see the rest of my CRAFT & MAKE pals at the Fairgrounds. Truly ... these people make me so stinkin' happy. I can't wait to hug Diane for the first time in TWO years, squee like a school girl over Moxie and bask in the awesomeness that is Becky Stern. Good good times. It's like a very nerdy Christmas and I love it.

I'm setting up my phone so I can blog from it. I haven't done this in a while, so this is a dry run. We'll see how it goes. It's a very quick way to share fun stuff from Maker Faire, though most of my activity will be over on Twitter (@avgjanecrafter and on @craft) Forgive my sappiness - this is just really one of the highlights of my year & I'm so glad it's here again!

Natalie took me to Daiso today, where we flipped out over cute Japanese packaged craft supplies and a wall 'o bento goodness. Then she took me out for dim sum for the first time ever. She ordered a great spread of food, and we sipped chrysanthemum tea and talked for ages. It was so awesome. A great start to the weekend! More fun from Maker Faire soon!

Announcing the World of Geekcraft Book Winner!

2011-05-10T09:08:00.004-05:00

Thanks to all who entered to win a copy of Susan Beal's new World of Geekcraft book, and for being so understanding of my big ole craft FAILs. I loved reading all about your favorite geeky possessions from childhood. It made me want to go scour ebay to find some of these things. (especially the E.T. glasses - I used to have a set but lost them during one of our many moves over the years.)

I'm so excited to announce the winner, because I happen to know her! The random number generator picked comment number 22, which is Jen (@FlyingJenny on Twitter). I met Jen through twitter ages ago, and she's actually quite the space crafter as well. I've featured her work on Craft before, and her bad ass needle felted Hubble Space Telescope was a finalist in the Etsy/NASA Space Craft Contest. She's a very prolific crafter and is constantly posting cool things that she makes over on Twitter. Congrats, Jen! I can't wait to see what you make from this book!

And now, I've got to bust out on unpacking boxes in my studio. We've gotten just about all of the house unpacked and settled, but of course my studio has gotten pushed to end. Time to get it set up before I head out to Maker Faire next week!

Cool Crafty iPhone cases

2011-05-05T15:55:00.005-05:00

I saw these fun crafty iPhone cases from Uncommon a while back, but was having trouble choosing between the Magda Sayed cases and the Sublime Stitching cases. I just read about their Buy One, Get One Free sale and instantly went to snap both of them up. After I bought them, I started browsing through the catalog of artists and realized there are TONS I'd also love to have (Jill Bliss, anyone!?)

My current iPhone case is beat to heck, and I'm looking forward to sporting a bold, crafty one - especially when I can change it out with another depending on my mood! (NERDALERT) The sale ends today, so go grab some while you can! Enter BOGOCASE in the discount box when ordering. Have you found any other artists in the Uncommon database that you love?

(and no, I didn't get any compensation for this little post - no free cases {well, except for the one with the sale} no perks - just stumbled on 'em and wanted to share ... so there!)

Yay! It's World of Geekcraft time! (and a giveaway)

2011-05-04T10:28:00.006-05:00

Y'all are all well aware that I am a huge geek, so I was stoked when Susan Beal asked me to contribute a project to her new book, World of Geekcraft. I love Susan. I love crafting. I love geekery. It was a win-win all around. I'm excited to be part of the World of Geekcraft blog tour today. You can get more information on all the other blog tour stops that will include patterns and projects, giveaways and all the geeky goodness you can handle at the end of this post. (and *cough*a giveaway*cough*)

There are a couple of hilarious stories surrounding this book that I'd like to share with you. First off, my almost complete and total failure to produce a project for it. You know, it's always nice to see the picture perfect final projects in a craft book, but sometimes it's good to see the goofs/failures/bloopers behind the projects, too. So here we go!

Initially, I had this grand idea to create a cool kid's astronaut helmet for dressing up and playing space exploration. I thought it should be pretty easy to do, and set about with great optimism that it would be a fabulous project. It didn't take long for that optimism to take a bit of a beating. It turns out that constructing the shape of a helmet was far more difficult than I anticipated it would be. I cranked out sample after sample, trying different construction methods with absolutely no luck at all. I was in a severe state of panic as the deadline for getting the project submitted quickly approached. When the week of project-creation mayhem was going on, I shared the picture above and the one below with my fellow Craft editors in a Craft Fail commiseration email. We all had a very good laugh over them. Above, you see one version I attempted. Hulk was not very happy about modeling. Below is a picture of me in one of the more hilarious failed prototypes. You win some, and you lose (very badly) some. (The polka dot fabric is just scrap fabric I was using to make prototypes - I wasn't trying to make a Space Clothing Statement.)

Beaten down and feeling pretty much like a failure, I escaped to a friend's house for a girls' craft night. Another friend of mine had recently sent a box full of needle felting supplies that she'd cleaned out of her craft closet and no longer needed, so I took them along with me. Aside from a little dabbling with Moxie at Maker Faire, I hadn't done much needle felting before, but the poke-poke-poke seemed like a great way to relieve the stress of that week and the failed astronaut helmet project.

I curled up on Curlin's big comfy couch with good friends and a glass of wine and started the therapeutic poke-poke-poke of needle felting. I started creating a ball, not yet completely sure what it would end up being. This happened to be the same day that LCROSS impacted the Moon, and since it was on my mind I decided to turn the quickly-forming sphere into the Moon. As I created craters from wisps of grey wool roving, a new idea popped into my head ... What if I made a needle felted solar system mobile? I love mobiles (I think I read somewhere once that they inspire creativity when hung over a desk. Who knows if that's true, but I've had a mobile hanging above my desk since college) and thought it could be an easier beginner project. With just a couple of days to spare, I set to work on creating all the planets (and I included Pluto - OF COURSE) for the project. It was loads of fun and came together seamlessly and I was able to send it off just in the nick of time.

Here it is right after I finished it. In the book, we ended up painting the embroidery hoops black - it looks much cooler that way.

It's hard to believe that was almost two years ago. Book production takes a while, but it is so worth it. World of Geekcraft is one of my favorite craft books ever, and not just because I have a project in there. Each project is hilarious and fun and clever and most are pretty simple, making it a very inspirational and practical craft book. The perfect kind, right!?

Several weeks ago, one of my best friends in the whole world came to Houston to visit us at our new house. She was giddy to hand off a gift she'd purchased for me, and it had a hilarious big note on the wrapping paper about how I probably already had this gift, but she saw it and instantly thought of me and HAD to get it ... I opened the paper and found a copy of World of Geekcraft. She had no idea I had a project in it, and at the time I still hadn't seen a copy of the book. It was so much fun - we squeed like good little nerdy friends and had a huge laugh over it. It made me love the book that much more.

I hope you'll check out World of Geekcraft by Susan Beal. It's charming, clever, funny and interesting, and there are some really spectacular contributors. Here are the details on the rest of the blog tour, be sure to check out all the stops for pattern excerpts, giveaways and more information on this awesome book. The book pictures in this post are from Susan and give you just a taste of how much fun the book is.

Monday, May 2 – Geek Crafts & CRAFT:

Tuesday, May 3 – Cathy of California

Wednesday, May 4 – Average Jane Crafter

Thursday, May 5 – LindaMade

Friday, May 6 – Easy Crafts Wiki & Patterns by Figgy

Monday, May 9 – CraftyPod & Craft Gossip

Tuesday, May 10 -Quilter Geek

Wednesday, May 11 – Indie Fixx

Thursday, May 12 – Not Martha

Friday, May 13 – House on Hill Road & Public School

And, since you stuck with me through this entire post ... it's giveaway time! I have one copy of World of Geekcraft to give to a lucky Average Jane Crafter reader. What was your favorite geeky possession as a kid? Your E.T. lunchbox? (I have one) Your C-3PO Underoos (yep, had those, too) Your Star Trek drinking glass set from McDonalds? I love love love love vintage geekery goods, so I want to hear about what you had as a kid and loved? Let me know. I'll close comments on Saturday at 10AM CST and will announce the winner last week - be sure to leave a way I can get in touch! :)

Finally coming up for air!

2011-05-03T14:01:00.007-05:00

Whew. All I can say about the last 6 or so months is WHIRL.WIND.

Last October, we got news we'd be moving to the Houston area for my husband's new job. I spent most of November getting our house in Austin ready to put on the market, we sold it in three days, found a dream house in Seabrook and moved down on New Years Eve. Since then, we've been working on a renovation of the house and finally got moved in a couple of weeks ago. As I type this, I'm in my new studio, surrounded by boxes and a gorgeous view of the backyard and pool. Not too shabby. Too say I've been up to my eyeballs, though, is a dramatic understatement. I'm just now finally getting to the place where I can breathe a little bit and - more importantly for you at least - blog about the renovation process and new crafty stuff! Whew!

Some highlights before I dive in to pictures from the renovation (because I honestly haven't even been able to get proper pictures taken and/or downloaded yet)

A new cat!
When we announced to our kids that we were moving, they both flipped out. Like ugly, screaming, crying, kicking F-L-I-P-P-E-D-O-U-T. So, in a moment of weak parenting, I blurted out to my daughter, "YOU CAN GET A CAT WHEN WE MOVE IN TO THE NEW HOUSE!" She's been begging for a cat for ages, mostly because of her obsession with the Warriors books, but we've never been cat people.

Folks: if I'd known having a cat could be this awesome, I would have cut out the "I'm not a cat person" snark years ago and gotten one earlier.

Little Bit came to us through our new vet's office. She'd been an owner-surrender pet, sent to be euthanized because she'd been peeing on a bath mat. Yeah. Poor thing. Fortunately, the vet refused to put her down and instead fostered her. She's been beyond awesome - so loving and sweet and cool. With the exception of some freakouts over her reflections in all the windows around here, she has settled in perfectly. We adore her. I've turned in to one of those crazy ladies who snaps pictures of her cat all.the.time. Fair warning.

Garage/Estate Sale Finds!
One thing about the area in which we live now is that there are several older neighborhoods (60s-70s) and not nearly as many hipsters as there were in Austin. This works out to mean lots of opportunity for excellent garage and estate sale finds. My friend, Misty, visited over spring break, and we literally stumbled on a few estate/garage sales and hit the motherlode.

Everything in the picture above was scored for about $12 - for everything. I love those yellow tea cups and that aqua flower platter. Together, they were ONE DOLLAR. You guys. One dollar!? Come on!

And perhaps the best deal of that day was the set of awesome furniture I scored at the same garage sale. I scored this 8-ft mid century couch and three chairs for a ridiculously low price. They are in excellent condition and could just use some updates in the fabric. Until we can afford to have them professionally reupholstered, they are living in my studio and are a perfect place for the kids to crash while I finish up work or for the cat to perch on and get a full view of the back and side yards through the giant windows.

And then there is this magnificent beauty that my friend, Mica, scored for me at a neighbor's house. She was visiting and saw it in their "send to Goodwill" pile. She immediately snapped a picture and texted me, asking if I wanted it for my daughter's room. Uh ... no ... I didn't want it for my daughter's room ... I wanted it for MY studio (bad mom? eh - maybe...) ! It's fabulous and giant - maybe 2ft X 3ft or so - and is vintage crewel work done by the neighbor's mother. I traded a few book boxes for it - how awesome is that!?

So while I get settled in the house and start to prepare to show off the renovations, I've got some other things to share with you. Tomorrow, I'll have a blog book tour stop for Susan Beal's World of Geekcraft (One of my favorite craft books ever - and not just 'cause I have a project in there) and some fun stuff to share about Kim Werker's For the Animals project. And, of course, in just a few weeks I'll be heading out to California for Maker Faire Bay Area - one of my happiest trips of the year.

Thanks for hanging in there with me as life took me on a wild ride! It's nice to be slowing down a bit!

Contest results are in! (commence jumping up and down in 3 ... 2... 1...)

2011-03-21T21:00:00.003-05:00

(that's an ATC I made years ago! Figured y'all have the Moon embroidery burned into your skulls by now)

More than a year ago, I worked the first stitches on my high texture hand embroidery of the Moon. It traveled with me across the country, and kept me inspired and busy for many months and thousands of stitches. Last fall, I entered it in the Etsy/NASA Space Craft contest and was overwhelmed by the generous support and kind words from readers, crafty friends, space geek friends and folks I'd never known before. On Friday, a group of incredibly impressive judges gathered at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn and judged the finalists in the contest.

We were told we'd find out the results sometime today, which meant there was much fretting and wringing of hands over the weekend (ok, just some nervous wondering). Then came the news: I had won the prize for best 2D Original Art. I was honored and humbled to be recognized, especially given the gorgeous pieces of art in my category.

Initially, I was a little bummed - for a couple of reasons (hear me out). First, two of my good Space Tweep art friends, Jen Scheer and Catherine Baker, hadn't won. We'd all been cheering each other on for months, and so I was sad that we weren't able to pull in a Space Tweep Sweep and all get to celebrate.

I also thought that only the Grand Prize winner would have the opportunity to have their work (or a photograph of it) flown on-board the space shuttle, and really ... that was all I cared about. Gift certificates to Etsy are awesome, but mostly I wanted to see my embroidery make its way in to space - where I've wanted to go since I was a kid. Jen pointed out, though, that the announcement article mentioned that all winners' work had the potential to fly on-board the space shuttle. (silly me and my skimming!)

So ... WOW. You guys ... just ... wow. There's a decent chance my embroidery will actually fly on-board the space shuttle in.to.space.

I'm just - well I'm speechless to be quite honest. And I've been talking up this Moon project for so long, I'm sure a lot of you are sick of hearing about it! But thank you - thank you for sticking around, for the support and kind words and voting, for blogging, for the interest in embroidery and space and for creating a creative community in which works like this can blossom.

The hardest part of all of this was saying goodbye to my embroidery. I packed it up (in GOBS of bubble wrap) and shipped it off to Brooklyn for the event, knowing that the only way I'd get it back was if I didn't win. So just as I started to jump up and down and celebrate winning, I got a bit of a letdown to know that I'll not ever have the embroidery back in my possession again. I don't have all the details yet on where it will end up, for how long, who will be in charge of it, what will happen to it after it's been on display (or flown) and so I have a bit of heartache tonight, too. This was one of my first pieces of true, honest-to-goodness, pour my heart and gut and soul and everything in to, art piece. I spent hours upon hours with this piece. I had conversation after conversation over it. I shared excitement and information with people over it. I had quiet time alone with it. It was a huge piece of me. And now it's ... gone. Not GONE gone, but just not here with me. And that's harder than I thought it was going to be.

But I'm still hugely thankful, and excited to find a way to get out to Florida for the launch. I didn't win the trip out there, but I'm already working on a way to afford the trip out so I can see my artwork launch. And believe me, I'll take every word of support, every wish for winning, every good thought/vibe/love you all have sent over the last few months, with me.

Thank you. No other words say it better. Just Thanks.

Moon Update: Judging Event on Friday!

2011-03-17T20:55:00.004-05:00

House stuff is going really well, and we're actually getting close to being done. I'll be posting more pictures and progress very soon, but also wanted to give an update on the Moon embroidery project and the Etsy/NASA Space Craft contest.

Friday night, March 18, is the live judging event in Brooklyn, New York. I carefully framed and wrapped up my embroidered Moon and shipped it off. We got word today that the show is all set up, and the panel of judges is ready to go. It's an incredibly impressive (and intimidating) panel.

I'm in very good company. Two fellow Space Tweep artists, Catherine Baker and Jen Scheer, are also finalists (along with 117 others) and have really awesome entries. Just seeing this much space art enthusiasm makes my heart happy. I'm so inspired, and I'm already plotting my next space art project. Thanks again, so much, for all the kind words, thoughts, support and votes. I'll keep you posted on the results!

Making Progress

2011-03-09T22:45:00.007-06:00

The quite around here means things have been busy. And boy have they. Even though we are using a contractor, managing this huge renovation has proved to be a wee bit overwhelming. Add to that some new responsibilities at work and helping kids adjust to life in a new town, there hasn't been much time for blogging. My bad!

Fortunately, I have been taking lots of pictures, and that's the fun stuff, right? I'll have to do all the wrap up, detail kind of posting later, because quite frankly ... my brain is fried. But for now, enjoy these progress pictures. The changes are overwhelming and exciting. It's fun to see things moving along, but it's also terrifying to see a place you love so much getting torn apart. When I look back at our original pictures of the house, I think, "awww, but it's so beautiful! What have we done!?" Demo was crazy. Seeing things ripped down to studs freaked me out a bit. Now, though, the progress is getting to the exciting part. We should be (knock on wood) just a few weeks away from wrapping this huge project up.

Kitchen, side one

Kitchen, side 2

Living Room windows

(these just went in today! There will be another window on the right side of the fireplace tomorrow!)

Master bedroom/bathroom

There is much much more where this all came from. Think tip 'o the iceberg here. But hopefully it's enough to see what's been happening, and why I've been so absent lately. More pictures later!

Finding inspiration for the renovations

2011-02-04T13:12:00.007-06:00

Don't fret. This isn't going to be renovation-only blog forever. And, actually, I'm going to be documenting some of the DIY projects I do for the house, so the "crafter" in Average Jane Crafter is not gone. I just want to share as much of the house stuff as possible, 'cause I always get a kick out of seeing other folks' befores and afters and because I'd like to have some kind of record for myself.

That said, as the renovation gets down to business, I've been compiling ideas, doing some online and in-person "browsing" and working my way through the seemingly endless list of decisions that need to be made. I never imagined how many things have to be picked out, how much stuff is out there to see and how hard it would be to decide on something as simple as bathroom faucets. My head is spinning.

I thought I'd share some of the resources I've found and am using to get inspired and save and organize what I've found.

Initially, I bought a giant stack of magazines, dogeared and tore out pages and put them in an accordion file. My main focus for inspiration and resources, though, has been online. I'm going to share a few web sites that are inspiring me and then a few online resources I'm using for gathering and organizing my ideas. Here we go:

Retro Renovation
When I started looking for inspiration for mid-century renovations, this was the first site that popped up. I instantly fell in love. Pam posts about pretty much everything related to mid-century design and aesthetic, with vast resources for finding anything you could hope to need in the renovation of a mid-century home. She's a prolific poster, and her readership is quite active, sharing their own renovation projects and resources. It's just my kind of community. And it's broken a habit of mine: aside from just subscribing in my RSS reader, I actually keep the site open in a tab in my browser so I can pop over and refresh and not miss anything. I don't want it to get lost in my bloated Reader. Be warned, when you pop over there, you may as well right off the next few hours, 'cause that's at least how long you'll want to spend there.

The Brick House
One of our designer friends pointed us to this blog, chronicling Morgan Satterfield's renovation of a mid-century cement brick house in California. She does things on a budge, so there's lots of great thrift-find inspiration and DIY projects, and loads of gorgeous pictures.

Aesthetic Outburst
I found Abbey's blog through a post on Houzz (more on that below) and feel in love with the look and feel of her place, especially since it's kid-friendly. I've fallen in love with the crafty side of her blog as well, so that makes it a bonus find!

So as I gather ideas for the house, I've got to put them somewhere, right? It's nice to be able to sort of bookmark things and go back and look at them all together. There are a couple of sites I've used to do this, and I owe my thanks to Diane for turning me on to both.

Houzz
I admit, I haven't spent tons of time on Houzz, but it was a great place for me to start and see lots of pictures of interiors so I could start to hone in on how I wanted things to look in our new place. I've always kind of known what my style is, but it's hard to put it in to words. With Houzz, I can browse hundreds of pictures and add any I like to an Ideabook so I can go back to them later. It's like being able to tear pictures out of one hundred magazines in one go 'round.

Pinterest
Diane posted about Pinterest a while back, and I jumped on the opportunity to grab an invite. I wasn't doing much with it, because of our move, but now it has become my go-to place for bookmarking things I find while searching online. I feel like it's somewhere between Tumblr and Delicious, both of which I've used. I like that, rather than Tumblr, I can divide my posts up in to categories (boards) so I can have something for the house and something for crafty stuff and something for space, etc. And since I'm such a visual person, I love that I don't just have lists of links (like on Delicious) but instead have a big grid of pictures. I need that. It's come in handy as I've browsed literally hundreds (ack!) of bathroom fixtures and lighting. Right now, my "For the New House" board is a mess of crazy bathroom fixtures, because I just couldn't make up my mind. But I did. And I'll share those choices with you soon.
I've set up a temporary home "office" on our back deck by the pool, and can work under the 30-ft pine trees, watch the woodpeckers and be on hand if the contractor or subs need me. These first few days of demo have been kind of hectic, but I imagine things will smooth out more as time goes. Pretty much all decisions/purchases have been made. Almost all the demo is done (pictures soon!) and from here on out, it's just building things back up. Stay tuned!

Awesome finds at the Dream House

2011-02-02T11:32:00.005-06:00

We're in a bit of a holding pattern over here for getting going on the renovations. Of course, that leaves me in a bit of a panic, because time is money and we're tight on both. To help ease my nerves a little, I revisited some of the awesome things I've found at the Dream Home, and wanted to share them and the story of the family who lived in this house with you.

Rarely in real estate do you make such an emotional and personal connection with a house. Too often, it's all business, money, negotiating, frustration and any number of crazy-making details. When I walked into the house and knew it was The One, I didn't know that we were about to connect with a wonderful family, and the memory of an amazing artist and mother.

You can see a few of her portraits here.

When we submitted our offer on the house, I included a letter that expressed our love of the home, and my intense connection with the art studio and intention to keep it and use it "as is." I'll spare you all the corny details, but let's just say there were way too many coincidences/signs/connections/kismet-kind of things going on with us and this house and this family. It was one of the nicest and most joyous real estate transactions I've ever experienced or heard of.

One afternoon, after we moved into our rent house, but before we closed on the new house, I took the kids by to drive past the house and visit the neighborhood (we didn't have a key to the house yet, and the kids had only seen pictures of the inside). We happened to pull up as Rosanne's son was loading some items in to his car. Without really thinking, I rolled down my window, called his name and quickly introduced myself and the kids (he and I had exchanged a couple of emails via our real estate agent). What happened next is a real estate rarity: he invited the kids and me in to meet his wife and father and to show the kids the house. We ended up spending almost an hour with them, hearing stories about the house and their family. They'd lived in the house for more than 42 years. Their son (the one who was there that day) was the same age our daughter is right now when they moved in. They bought the house, sight-unseen, from an acquaintance who drove all the way to Peoria, Illnois, to tell them about the place over the dinner table.

I ate these stories up.

Because we were able to get the flat file cabinets included in the sale of the house (I'm still swooning over them) the family decided to leave any in-good-condition supplies inside for me to use. WOW. There is every kind of paper imaginable, from vellum to mat board and more, as well as tons of vintage wrapping paper, cards and other supplies. It's dreamy. They also had several of her painted portraits that they left for me. I plan on hanging one in every room in the house if I can.

Probably my most treasured gift from them, though, was the collection of blueprints, flooplans and design research Rosanne created and gathered when she designed and built the studio addition to the house in 1977-78. Her floorplan drawings are amazingly detailed and so much fun to look at. As her husband of 52 years, Bill, said, "She really could have been an architect." Indeed.

I also came across a file folder case that was filled with file folders in which she collected magazine and newspaper clippings, brochures and booklets, notes and receipts for the addition of the studio. These items are priceless to me. On one level, I just love them for their vintage design and fabulous pictures. More than that, though, I love thinking of her going through the same kind of process I'm doing right now with the house. I'm collecting clippings, making notes, sketching cabinet designs, and it's almost eerie how similar our tastes seem to be.

I find myself simultaneously crushed that I was never able to know Rosanne, but also feeling overwhelmed with gratitude at the opportunity to get to know her through her art and this small collection of notes about the house. I also found many other treasures in the studio that I'll share here (with permission from her family) and as I've spent more time in the space and gone through these items time and time again, I almost feel like she's right here with me, guiding me in some way.

Why, yes, I have gone off the deep end! Thanks for asking!

But, really. Aren't these kinds of connections what life is all about? It is for me. I find great comfort and strength in getting to know this woman who shared so many of my life attributes (busy mom, husband going up into the big city every day for work, keeping art an important part of my life no matter what, creating a home that's comfortable for my family and inspiring to me...). This move was incredibly difficult for me ... until I "met" Rosanne. Thanks, Rosanne. I needed that.

I've posted some of the pics of the flooplans and brochures here. If you'd like to see more, hop on over to my Flickr set. :)

And now to introduce you to the new house

2011-01-23T11:45:00.004-06:00

Also known as "why I've disappeared for the last 6 weeks or so" and "what I'll be up to my eyeballs in for the next few months."

As I mentioned in my last post so long ago, we've been in the process of moving. We had a very crazy eight weeks - all right during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays - of getting our house ready to sell, finding a place in Houston and moving. Things rolled out muuuuuuuch faster than we had planned on, but it was good, because everything fell right in to place so seamlessly I can't imagine having done it any other way.

I'll try to sum it up quickly: husband got a job offer in Houston he couldn't refuse, I freak out at the thought of leaving Austin, my family, close friends and great neighborhood/school, we decide we'll try to live close to downtown Houston since that's where his office is, I scope out neighborhoods with Claire, but can't find anything that fits our safe/affordable/good neighborhood schools trifecta, we decide to pursue suburbs, I realize the only suburb I'd want to live in is the one where I can see rockets on the way to the grocery store, we focus our search on the Clear Lake area, we get our house all spiffed up and on the market and head to Clear Lake to scope out the area, our house ends up selling the first weekend it's on the market, we find a Dream Home in Seabrook, everything falls into place with coincidences and "signs" that are enough to make your head spin, we find a rent house one mile from our new house where we can live for a few months during renovations, we move down on New Year's Eve, kids love the new school, we love the new neighborhood, it's all good.

Whew.

If you'd told me three months ago that I'd be living in a new city, getting ready to start renovations on an awesome old house, I'd have laughed hysterically in your face. Oh, life, you're so funny with your curve balls!

And so here we are, in Seabrook, Texas. I'm in Space Geek Nirvana, the kids' school is amazing, we've already made some really lovely friends, and the house we bought is not only totally rad and a "dream house," but we also made a really wonderful connection with the sellers. More on that in another post (or three).

When we started looking down here, we found some great, cozy neighborhoods with fun older homes. One MLS listing had me intrigued. The pictures weren't great, but it was a 1961 ranch with a pool and - most intriguing of all - an art studio and darkroom. I've always wanted to live in a mid-century ranch, so I kept going back to that listing. When I first met with our Realtor, we previewed loads of homes before heading out with my husband the next day. After going through house after house after house, we headed over to this one. Just pulling in to the neighborhood was completely dreamy. Idyllic is an understatement.

When we walked into the house, it was ON. I liken it to looking for your wedding dress: you try on a bunch of dresses, and then the second you put on THE ONE, you know it is THE ONE. This house was THE ONE. It needed some updating, but the bones were incredible, and it had a great spirit about it. And then I walked into the studio. The glorious, amazing, jaw-dropping, can't-believe-it's-real art studio. My creative juices started boiling. I'm planning several posts on the studio alone, and the woman who designed it and worked in it for the last 30 years. Let's just say that I've never experienced kismet as strongly as I have with this home.

So today, I introduce you to THE ONE. We're planning some pretty big renovations over the next two months, so I'll be updating on that as well. We've never done a renovation before, so I'm a little nervous (ok, A LOT nervous) but I'm excited, too. We're taking a place we love and are just making it even more lovable. I'll share as many of the resources as I can, and welcome any tips/advice on renovating a mid-century home. We're working to keep it pretty true to its time period.

I've given you a sneak peek with some pictures here, but I put together a complete slide show over on Flickr. It's easiest to zip through the pictures that way, and I ordered them such that they take you on a full tour of the place. If you are interested in the notes I've made on the pics, you can view them in the set. I'll be keeping it updated as the renovation beings.

Crazy Full of Gratitude

2010-12-09T09:13:00.003-06:00

My good pal, Jote, started a most wonderful series on her blog recently called 30 Days With a Grateful Heart. Each day, she's sharing something for which she's grateful, ranging from deep and meaningful family memories and relationships to something as simple as a pair of comfortable shoes. What's been really fun about the series is how a substantial group of our mom friends have started playing along and are sharing their daily gratitude. It's been nice to see everyone's posts especially over on Facebook where we can easily catch up each day.

I've not been able to keep up each day, because our lives are pretty darn hectic right now. I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but our family is in the process of selling our house and moving. We're leaving Austin (sigh ... don't get me started on how hard that is) and are moving to Houston for a great job opportunity for the husband. More on that later (especially if we get the house we're hoping for ... there will be some great blogging on updating the house ....)

While I haven't had time to blog my gratitude each day, I have been feeling it - and in a very big way. The last 4-5 weeks have been some of the most emotionally tumultuous of my life, not to mention just flat out full of incredibly hard work on top of the regular day-to-day work, all while single-moming it since the husband has already moved to Houston.

The gratitude is what has been getting me through. One day in particular a little more than a week ago, I was feeling insanely overwhelmed with some of the house stuff I was having to do. I woke up with my stomach in knots, thinking about everything I needed to get done that day. I fired up my computer and was pleasantly greeted with two really sweet and thoughtful posts about my Moon embroidery from my pal, Paul at Dude Craft, and one of my embroidery mentors, Mary at Needle 'n Thread. Several other friends blogged and shared links for voting via Facebook and Twitter, and I found that my overwhelm of gratitude was kicking my overwhelm of stress square in the face. So nice. (I'll be blogging more thanks about the folks who helped spread the word for voting in another post. My Moon made it to the finals! Hurrah!)

Two days ago, as real estate stress was once again pushing me to my very outer limit (and a bit beyond) I came home to two big boxes on my front porch. I saw that they were from two of my favorite people on the planet, Diane and Pam. They are my adopted sister and mom, and though we rarely get to see each other, I love them dearly. There are many things for which I'm grateful in the blogging world, but these two people and the relationship we've developed over the past few years is at the very top of my list.

My daughter helped me open and unpack the boxes, and what we found left me in a huge puddle of tears. I'd mentioned in a post on CRAFT about Diane's awesome plastic canvas gingerbread house that I didn't think I'd be able to do homemade gingerbread houses this year since I'm so preoccupied with house-selling/buying/moving stuff. In these two boxes from Diane and Pam were all the things we needed to spark up our holiday spirit - something that was completely missing around here.

They sent two gingerbread house kits, holiday craft supplies and coloring pages for the kids, and fabulous teas for me. They also sent several packages of delicious holiday cookies and treats. If you've read Pam's blog for any time at all, you know that she makes the most awesome Christmas cookies and treats, and getting to have some of those yummy homemade goodies just made my heart so happy (not to mention, I was in total awe of their packing techniques. Not a single cookie was broken - it was amazing!)

As I went through each of the things Diane and Pam so lovingly packed up and sent, I just started sobbing uncontrollably. I actually kind of freaked my daughter out. She said, "Stop crying! This isn't sad! This is great!" I used the opportunity to explain "happy tears" to her. It was one of those moments when you are emotionally and physically exhausted and then you get the most wonderful, thoughtful surprise you could ever imagine. The gratitude just slayed me. Flat. Out. Slayed. Me.

Even though I've had almost unbearable amounts of stress the last month or so (and surely more to come) it is insane amounts of gratitude for friends and their overwhelming kindness that are carrying me through every little bit of it. So ... THANK YOU. All of you.

Photos:
Thank you by vistamommy
Gratitude by kateausburn
Thank you by RobeRt Vega
Thank You SEW Much by Heidi Elliott

More on the Moon: VOTE NOW.

2010-11-23T17:19:00.005-06:00

Space + Craft = Awesome from Rachel Hobson on Vimeo.

Photos of the embroidery by sweet Jote

Just more than a week ago, I was crushed to find out that my High Texture Hand Embroidery of the Moon had not made the first cut in the NASA/Etsy Space Craft contest. I realized it was an opportunity to remember exactly why I started the project in the first place, and I've truly delighted in sharing the inspiration, information and stitch "education" behind the project over the last week. Thanks so much for your incredibly kind words and thoughtful support.

So I was very stunned to get news today that there was an apparent technical glitch in the way entries were culled from the Etsy listings for that first round of voting. And now, my Moon embroidery is eligible for voting. That's right, folks .... there's still a chance this puppy could fly in space.

I'm still trying to fully understand what happened, and I have to admit, it feels a little weird (I assure you I never contacted Etsy about not making the cut - I was over it, and had just gotten down to enjoying sharing the project here.) but I can't let that keep me from asking you to vote and spread the word.

You'll have to register with Etsy to vote, but it truly takes just a minute or two. Here are some resources for you in case you'd like to easily share the piece with friends to ask them to vote. Blog it, tweet it, Facebook it - whatever. I appreciate your support. The top 20 vote-getters (and this includes those who were voted on before the glitch was discovered) will go back to judges for the final call on the winner.

My video about my love of space and craft
Flickr pictures
My original post when I thought I hadn't made the cut
GO VOTE NOW! :)

Wow. Just ... wow.
Now, uhhhh - go vote! And be sure to check out all the folks who are included in this second round, including my pal Jen whose rad needle felted Hubble Telescope was included this time! Hurrah!

More on the Moon: The stitches used in the project

2010-11-18T11:13:00.010-06:00

Before I started working on the Moon project, most of what I stitched was super simple. My fallback stitch is the good 'ole backstitch, and most of the designs I've stitched are straight up line drawings with little filled in. That's one reason I was particularly drawn to Sharon's Sumptuous Surfaces class. I was really intrigued by the depth and text she creates in her pieces, and wanted to see how my style might work with those techniques.

Sharon guided us through designing our pieces and shared a variety of stitches for us to incorporate as we wanted to. Her online stitch dictionary is incredibly extensive, and each week she'd usually share some new stitch in our class materials. I also used Mary Corbet's valuable video library of stitches as a point of reference. Below, I'll list the stitches I used in this project. (hint: I saved the best for last) The great thing is that most of them are incredibly simple stitches that you likely already know or can learn easily. I'm listing each stitch and then, in parentheses*, I'll list links to various online resources where you can learn the stitch on your own. On this picture and this picture (on Flickr) I've noted what most of the stitches are (as best I can). Let me know if you have any questions! Please note that in this post, not all the pictures are matched up perfectly with their stitch information, so don't let that confuse you.
*The Web sites referenced are as follows:

In a Minute Ago - this is an extensive stitch dictionary/index, created and maintained by Sharon B
Pin Tangle - This is Sharon's blog where she shares her projects and leads a series called Take a Stitch Tuesday, where she features a new stitch each week that folks can follow along with.
Needle 'n Thread - Mary Corbet shares loads of great information and techniques on her blog, as well as some really fabulous, high-quality video how-tos.
Sublime Stitching - Jenny Hart has some great how-tos on her web site, including ones for lefties! Her Fool-Proof French Knot technique is what made me fall madly in love with the French Knot.

Stem Stitch (In a Minute Ago) (Needle 'n Thread) - The stem stitch is one of my all-time favorite stitches. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but once Leslie showed me a little trick on getting started, I was hooked. Once you get going with the stem stitch - especially if you are using the sewing method - it works up very quickly and stitches in a beautifully rhythmic cadence. Stem stitch is often seen as an outline stitch, but it also makes a gorgeous filling. I worked rows of stem stitch to fill large areas, working left to right and then flipping my work and working back down the line so the stitches ended up kind of interlocking as they went (though not perfectly all the time. ;) When worked with pearl (perle) cotton, it takes on an entirely new texture that is divine.

Chain Stitch (In a Minute Ago) (Needle 'n Thread) - I have to admit, I used to not be a very big fan of the chain stitch. It took me a while to get the hang of it, and I was used to working it with pretty large, open stitches. I decided to try tightening up the stitch to use as a nice, textural filling and quickly changed my opinion of the chain stitch. I became obsessive, challenging myself to make the stitches as tiny as I possibly could. I particularly delighted in stitching the chain in size 12 (read: tiny) pearl cotton.

Satin Stitch (In a Minute Ago) (Sublime Stitching) The only part of the project where I used the satin stitch was on Tycho. It was technically a "padded" satin stitch, because I first outlined the shape of the area with split stitch and then laid the satin stitch down over that, giving it a bit more volume.

Split Stitch (In a Minute Ago) (Needle 'n Thread) Most of the split stitch I did on this project is covered in satin stitch (see above) but there are a few areas where I worked rows upon rows of split stitch for filling.

Portuguese Stem Stitch (Pin Tangle) (Needle 'n Thread) The main part where the Portuguese Stem Stitch is used is in the outline of the moon. It created the perfect, knobby edge to the moon. I love when I look through my telescope at the very edges of the moon. They always appear so textural as they edge off into the blackness of space. This stitch did a nice job of capturing that.

French Knot (In a Minute Ago) (Needle 'n Thread) (Sublime Stitching) I love love love love love love love French Knots. Once I mastered them (thanks, Jenny!) they quickly hit the top of my list of favorite stitches. I went French knot crazy on this piece. There are sections where I packed French knots on top of French knots and just luxuriated in their texture. I used different kinds of threads to beef up the texture even more.

Bullion Knot (In a Minute Ago) (Needle 'n Thread) Bullion knots have always kind of intimidated me, and I have to admit I'm still not 100% comfortable with them. Mary's video helped me get the hang of them, though, and I used them sparingly in this piece. I want to play with them a little bit more, because I've seen some really fun applications of bullion knots that I'd love to try ...

Buttonhole Wheels (In a Minute Ago) (Needle 'n Thread) Buttonhole wheels are incredibly fun and addictive. They make great flowers, are graphic and easy to work up.

This is the first buttonhole wheel cup I ever stitched! The start of something wonderful ...

Buttonhole Wheel Cup (Pin Tangle) This has become, by far, my all-time favorite stitch. This was one of the first new stitches Sharon B shared with us during the Sumptuous Surfaces class, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a perfect stitch for the craters on my Moon. Sharon's instructions and photographs are very clear and easy to understand. Essentially, you are working a button hole wheel and then working buttonhole stitches in to the ridge of the wheel. You can work as many rows as you like, and the more you add, the higher up the ridges of the "cup" will stand. When I worked this stitch with a fine pearl cotton (size 12) and added at least three rows to the "cup" it produced the most fantastically gnarly craters. Give them a try!

One of the coolest things about this project is how dense the stitching became. I'm used to my projects staying fairly light and simple, but when I took this one off the hoop, I was stunned by how .... heavy it was it was thick and substantial. I loved that!

It's easy to look at a project like this and think, "holy smokes! So complicated!" but hopefully when you see the stitches broken down above you can see that it's all actually simple and well within your reach.

If you missed the first couple of posts in this series, check them out here:
Space + Craft (still) = Awesome
More on the Moon: Sharon B's Sumptuous Surfaces Class

Up next in my series of moon posts (sick of 'em yet? too bad! ;) is more about the moon and why it makes me ... swoon!

More on the Moon - Sharon B's Sumptuous Surfaces Embroidery Class

2010-11-15T20:48:00.008-06:00

This is a follow-up post about my high texture hand embroidery of the moon. It was a massive project, so it deserves a few posts. Today, I'll cover the class in which I started the project. :)

Last spring, I took an online class from Sharon B of Pin Tangle that was called Sumptuous Surfaces. I've followed Sharon's blog for a very long time, and while my stitching style was quite different than her work, I was really intrigued by her class offering. I was ready to challenge myself and try something new in my embroidery.

Our first assignment was to create a 4"X6" monochromatic piece. Because the moon makes me swoon (no really, the first time I looked at the moon through my telescope, I started to cry) I decided it would be a perfect subject for monochromatic, high texture embroidery.

I fell terribly behind on the project, though, and as other students zoomed right into their second projects (a full-color piece) I slowly but surely stitched away at my moon. It traveled with me to California, Colorado, New York and was with me in several embroidery classes and Stitch 'n Bitch evenings. I've never worked so hard or so long on a project.

I've also never used so much embroidery floss on a project! The black sky portion alone used two full skeins of floss each of black and a steel gray color. It was crazy! Types of thread used include stranded cotton embroidery floss, pearl cotton, rayon and silk. I hadn't stitched with pearl cotton much before, and Sharon encouraged us to try lots of different kinds of threads. I have a lot (I mean ... a lot) of stranded cotton embroidery floss, and most of it was stuff I got through various jobs. I decided to take a trip to Ginger's Needle Arts here in Austin and treat myself to lots of yummy new threads. I went a little nuts, but I didn't care. I was able to get some great stuff and support a local business. Score!

This project made me fall in love with pearl cotton. I wasn't sure how I would like it, but after using all sizes and a couple of brands (DMC and Anchor) I was sold. Big time. The pearl cotton just adds a whole other layer of texture to the stitches that is loads of fun to play with.

I also wasn't sure how doing an embroidery class online would work, but it turned out to be great fun. Sharon was a great instructor who clearly put a ton of effort and planning in to the class. Each week, we had a lengthy downloadable lesson and an active online forum in which we posted pictures, asked questions and got feedback from classmates and Sharon. It worked out great, and it was a lot of fun to see everyone's work progress and interact with people all over the world, as well as one person who was right here in Austin with me. All in all, the class was a truly fun and inspiring experience, and I can't wait to take another one from Sharon soon!

In my previous post, I explained this project, my passion for space and moving on past disappointment. In my next post, I'll highlight the various stitches I used in the project! Stay tuned ...

Space + Craft (still) = Awesome.

2010-11-13T08:30:00.007-06:00

All the photos in this post were taken by my good friend
and all-around awesome human being, Jote.

UPDATE!

Apparently there was a glitch in the way Etsy pulled tagged entries for the contest, and it turns out that now my embroidered Moon is up for voting! Go vote and tell your friends! Thank you so much!

This should have been a different post. I'd hoped I'd be posting a request for help to vote for the embroidery I created above for a chance to help it possibly fly in space. A few weeks ago, NASA and Etsy announced their Space Craft contest. My heart started beating out of my chest as I read the contest details, which include a possible opportunity to have your handmade item fly in space on board one of the final space shuttle flights. (heck - is wasn't just a high heart rate I experienced. When I read the part about flying the object in space, I got totally choked up!)

This is my high texture hand embroidery of the moon that I entered in the contest. I'll fill you in on the specifics of the project soon and will share some great space and embroidery resources as well. What I'd hoped I'd be doing this weekend was spreading the word far and wide that I'd made it to round 2 of the contest where folks would have the opportunity to vote for their favorite space-inspired hand-made item. I won't lie, while I wasn't arrogant enough to think I might win this whole thing, I did feel confident I would at least make it to the voting round, and I was prepared to work my backside off to spread the word for voting. My good friend, Becky, even helped me make a nice little video giving some insight into why I was so passionate about the contest. Maybe I jinxed myself, but hey - when you want something badly, you want to "bring it" and I was fully prepared to "bring it" in a big way.

Space + Craft (still) = Awesome (even if I didn't make the vote cut)
from Rachel Hobson on Vimeo.
(ignore the "vote for me" portion of the video ;) Thanks, Becky! )

I was not prepared to not have the chance to bring it. And when the voting opened last night, and I quickly realized I hadn't made the cut ... I was crushed. I commiserated with good friend and fellow Spacetweep, Jen, whose amazing needle felted Hubble Space Telescope also didn't make the cut in her category, and there were several very kind people on Twitter who shared some lovely words about my embroidery. That helped, but I have to admit I was very disappointed and deflated.

It wasn't just the opportunity to "win" a contest I was excited about. Absolutely, I was thrilled (to tears) about the idea of something I made flying in space, but more than that, I was excited for the opportunity to share my two biggest passions - space and craft - with a wider audience. I was excited to share resources with people, get folks who might not be fired up about space to get interested in it and to hopefully inspired people who would never consider picking up a needle and thread to do so. I was excited about the chance to connect and share with more people.

I decided I needed to lay off the social media early last night, and started to watch a great documentary on the Apollo program instead. As I watched, my heart filled with excitement once more and I was reminded why I spent so much time on this project; why I stitched craters until I had calluses on my fingertips, why I took the piece with me everywhere I went so I could stitch at any given opportunity, why I delighted in sharing the subject matter with anyone who was gracious enough to ask about it.

It wasn't because of the contest, it was because of the Moon. And space. And embroidery. And the pure joy that these things bring to me. And I can't let what a random handful of judges think of my work keep me from loving these things and sharing them with other people.

And so that's exactly what I'm going to do. Over the next few days, I'll be sharing more background information on this project. It was my most massive embroidery undertaking to date, and I fell madly in love with it. I'll share information about the class in which I started the project, some of the stitches I used, some of the threads I used and more information about the moon and why I love it so much. I've also set up a page of embroidery and space links in case I've inspired anyone to explore these two passions of mine. If you have any questions about either subject, just let me know and I'll do my best to answer them in the follow up posts.

Follow up post - More on the Moon: Sharon B's Sumptuous Surfaces Embroidery Class (in which I started this project)
Follow up post - Highlighting the various stitches I used in the project!

Space and Embroidery - you can do it!

2010-11-09T17:10:00.010-06:00

As you know, I'm a huge space geek, and my craft of choice is hand embroidery. I truly believe both subjects have a lot to offer in terms of education, creativity, innovation and inspiration. Because I'm also a big internet junkie, I've collected loads of resources that will help you explore both subjects. Enjoy!

Hand Embroidery Resources

Classes - I can't tell you how many times I've had a student in one of my embroidery classes say how much of a difference it makes to have someone, in person, show them how to do hand embroidery. Do yourself a favor and check out your local sewing or craft studios to see about trying a hand embroidery class.

Sublime Stitching - Jenny Hart has a lot of great patterns and tutorials on her web site. They are a great place to get started and are a lot of fun to stitch.

Needle 'n Thread - Mary Corbet is a master of embroidery, and provides some excellent tutorials and great how-to videos on her web site.

The CRAFT embroidery archives are filled with all kinds of great inspirational projects and how-tos.

Mr. X-Stitch is a great site for modern embroidery. Lots of interesting and fun stuff!

Pin Tangle - from Sharon B. I started this moon embroidery project in Sharon's Sumptuous Surfaces class.

The Flickr Embroidery Group offers loads of great inspiration and a great, supportive embroidery community.

The Flickr Embroidery Group Blog - Feeling Stitchy

Space Resources

NASA - NASA has done a great job of reaching out to folks through social media. Their Twitter feed is great, many astronauts are now on Twitter (some even tweet from space!) and their "following" list is filled with many must-follows on Twitter.

NASA TV - If you are lucky enough to have NASA TV on your cable line-up, be sure to check it out regularly. Even if you can't watch it on your television, you can watch it online. Watching NASA TV during a shuttle mission is especially exciting. It blows my mind to think that we can watch a spacewalk taking place *live* more than 200 miles above our heads. If we can, we should.

Space Tweep Society - This group has been huge in my connecting with loads of interesting, kind, supportive and enthusiastic space geeks on Twitter and beyond. I've made great friends, learned tons and have really enjoyed this community.

collectSPACE.com - Robert Pearlman has an incredible wealth of knowledge on all things related to the history of the space program. Members of the collectSPACE community are active, supportive and very knowledgeable. (and just darn cool)

Astronomy Picture of the Day - sometimes you just need some quick, visual inspiration. APOD is a great place for that!

And for more gorgeous inspiration, check out the Hubble web site.

These links are just a sampling of some of the great online resources for hand embroidery and space exploration. Consider them a jumping off point, and feel free to fall into these favorite obsessions of mine. :)

Stitchin' with my students

2010-10-11T15:05:00.004-05:00

Last week, I held the first (official) Embroidery Stitch 'n Bitch over at the Stitch Lab. It's a special evening for former Stitch Lab embroidery students to meet up and spend the evening snacking, chatting and stitching on current projects.

Of course, I was looking forward to the evening. Stitching and friends in the awesome Stitch Lab environment? Sign me up! And I was glad there were a lot of people who wanted to come. I was nervous no one would RSVP, but ended up not having enough space for everyone who wanted to be there. Embroidery addiction rules!

And while I was expecting to have fun stitching and gabbing, I hadn't given much thought to what it would be like to see so many students and the projects they'd be working on since class. I was so caught up in talk, that I didn't get to snap many pictures (such a bad habit of mine) but I can tell you these folks knocked my socks clean off.

One pulled out a whole handful of projects, including pictures of embroidered portraits she'd stitched and given to close friends. Another pulled out an awesome apron she'd stitched with cute Sublime Stitching images and also screen printed in one of Kat's classes! One practiced silk ribbon stitches while another worked away on a doodle cloth. One student was stitching part of a cowboy-themed baby quilt she was making as a gift. Another student continued work on a complicated cross-stitch Christmas stocking she's been working on for her son.

One student, who had just taken my class less than a month ago, pulled out an awesome Eagle Scout stitching that will be turned into a pillow that she made for a friend. She also pulled out an amazing work-in-progress for her husband's Christmas gift. I'm not going to post the picture I took of that until after she completes it and gives it to him (no spoilers on the random off chance he'd see it) but let's just say it is beyond awesome and a huge undertaking. If anyone can do it, though, she can. She quietly stitched away throughout the evening and completed a nice chunk of it.

I felt incredibly lucky to have been able to get to know these awesome women and to teach them one of my all-time favorite activities. Even to be just a small part of their creative growth is an incredible privilege. It was also really special to sit around the cutting table, stitching and talking, like so many women in history have done. It sounds corny, but there was a definite connection to the past in that room last Thursday night. I can't wait to do it again.

If you are in Austin and would like to take an embroidery class with me (and then get on the super special guest list for future Stitch 'n Bitch nights) check out the Stitch Lab web site for class details! I'd love to see you there.

An update on Baby Ike

2010-09-20T10:28:00.003-05:00

A little more than a year and a half ago, many of you shared your generous support for Baby Ike (Ike-a-saurus), the son of one of my best friends. Ike and his family have been through a lot in the last 18 months or so, but now have some really fantastic news to share. I'm a little late in posting about it, but last month, Ike and his parents spent several weeks in Cincinnati, where Ike underwent surgery to reconstruct his airway. While his recovery process in the first week post-surgery was a bit treacherous (heh - Kari will laugh at the "bit" part), he went on to recover so strongly that he was released to come back to Texas early.

He still has a long road ahead, but he's doing great so far. He's "breathing through his face" and doing wonderfully "normal" things like climbing up on to the kitchen table, sleeping in his own big-boy bed, and celebrating milestones like his first trip to the grocery store. He (and his family) are truly amazing. Our community of mamas had a big Welcome Home party for the Roy family a few weeks ago, and it was so beautiful to see everyone celebrate the effort everyone made to help support this family through such turbulent waters. The following weekend, we joined again to celebrate Kari's new book, Brains for Lunch. At both raucous, crowd-packed events, Ike was totally in his element, rockin' his Chucks, batting his eyelashes and wooing everyone.

I just have to give another heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated items for Ike's auction or purchased items from Ike's auction or said a prayer, sent a thought, etc. Ike's recovery and his family's strength through it all have been amazing to witness, and equally impressive is the tremendous support from all corners of the country for this sweet little guy. Thank you.

You can keep up with Ike and Kari and the gang over on Kari's blog, Haiku of the Day.

Space and Stitchery (a.k.a. My Happy Place)

2010-09-01T10:55:00.005-05:00

Having the chance to combine your passions is a pretty darn special treat, and when other folks respond positively to that ... well, it doesn't get much better. I'm so excited/honored/thrilled/stoked that my Hubble cross-stitch project won First Prize in the Funniest category of the ESA Hubble Pop Culture contest. Can you believe it? Nope - I can't, either.

I don't know that I was going for "funny" when I made the project, but considering the fact that humor is how I make it through any tough situations in life, I'll go ahead and take it. Not to mention the fact that First Prize carries some insanely awesome prizes. Hurrah!

This is the second time I've had a crazy idea for a project that combines my passions, but seems a little ... odd. One part of me said, "This is so dorky. Why would you bother?" but the bigger part of me said, "So what!? I like it! I'm doing it!" And when I went ahead with it, really fantastic things followed.

photo by Robert Pearlman of collectSPACE

So what does this mean to you? Well - I've had a postcard on my desk for years (actually, I can't find it at the moment, but it's seared in to my brain, so ...) it says, "Trust Your Crazy Ideas."

For reals, y'all. Trust those crazy ideas. Love what you do - do it with passion and most importantly, HAVE. FUN. DOING. IT. Don't worry about what other people think. And be sure to take things ... well ... One Screw at a Time.

You can read the full story behind the project in my original post about it.

When I was contacted about the win, the ESA folks asked several questions, the final one being if I had any favorite Hubble images. Here was my response:

I find most every image in the Hubble gallery inspiring, fascinating and humbling. Some of my favorite images, though, are pictures of the astronauts who have serviced Hubble through the years as they work on Hubble. More proof that humans are critical to space exploration.

Brand Spankin' New Stitch Lab Web Site

2010-07-23T09:47:00.004-05:00

One of my latest creative endeavors isn't of a crafty nature.

Well, it kind of is.

I'm thrilled to announce the launch of the brand new Stitch Lab web site, designed and built by ... me! For the last six months or so, we've gone through countless versions, gathered massive amounts of content, edited hundreds of photos and built a ginormo-awesome web site for my favorite crafty spot on the planet. It was a huge undertaking, but even in its most stressful moments, was a true labor of love and a joy to work on.

It's so exciting to know how much incredible growth the Stitch Lab has had in the last few years. From a few classes a week in Leslie's backyard studio a few years ago, to dozens of classes a week (and more than 90 different classes on the roster) with almost 10 instructors and a bustling retail shop, I'm simply blown away by what Leslie has inspired and created.

The new web site is built to handle the high volume of enrollments, to share resources for students and to convey the spirit and fun of the Stitch Lab. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to see it up and running.

And it's still growing! More resources will be added, and a fully-functioning blog will be integrated so Leslie and Carol can share their favorite crafty tidbits and what's new in the shop. (mmmmm .... fabric .....)

I hope that even if you aren't in Austin, you'll pop by and check it out and let us know what you think. I feel really lucky to be a part of the Stitch Lab gang, and honestly quite honored to be tasked with creating the Stitch Lab online presence. I'm excited to see what growth the next few years have in store for us!

Summer Sewing at the Ranch

2010-07-06T19:44:00.002-05:00

The kids and I took a little break last week and headed out to a special little place out in the Hill Country: my parent's ranch. This is a place we love, and after spending a week out there last summer, we decided to give it another go this year.

Along with lots of swimming, wildlife observation and s'mores, we made time for some serious crafting. My friend, Jamie, joined us at the ranch with her son, and we had big plans for knocking out a lot of sewing while the kids played.

I have to admit that the crafting portion of the vacation was pretty darn blissful. We transformed the Party Barn into a massive sewing area, complete with cutting, ironing and sewing stations. It made for dream-like sewing conditions.

We decided to keep our sewing to-do list pretty simple, and stuck to knocking out tons of elastic-waist skirts (and a bag, for Jamie). We pulled out our trusty skirt patterns from our Beginning I Sewing Series classes at the Stitch Lab and went to town. After a couple of days (and one *very* late night) we'd knocked out eight skirts and one bag. All in all, a very productive use of our time.

Doing so much hard-core sewing made me really miss sewing. I do so much embroidery, that it had been a really long time since I'd been behind a sewing machine, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. Not to mention, it was hugely satisfying to crank out essentially an entire summer skirt wardrobe in just a couple of days. I've already worn three of the skirts since we've been back!

So what summer crafting have you been up to?

Ahhhh ... Maker Faire. My Happy Place

2010-06-15T21:10:00.007-05:00

Here's (most of) the CRAFT team at the Maker Happy Hour on the Friday night before Maker Faire opened. Such a happy place and time. Cool air, cold beer, giant rockets and some of the most amazingly creative and innovative people in one place? Yes. Please.

Since summer is so nutty, I find myself blissing out in my mind and going to my Happy Place: Maker Faire. I just realized that I never reported back after the big event - mostly 'cause from Maker Faire it was a quick downhill slope to summer.

As usual, Maker Faire was amazing. More than amazing, really. I walk around Maker Faire and have that "Where have you people been all my life!?" feeling. I want to look at Maker Faire in the face and say, "YOU COMPLETE ME."

Not really. That's the heat talking. I think I need to have one of Jote's Blackberry Smashes ... STAT.

Anyway - here are some of my favorite pictures from Maker Faire. Enjoy! I'll look at them, wishing I was back in the 60-degree temps of the Bay Area with all my rad CRAFT pals, surrounded by (as the most awesome Lish says) Robots and Glitter. (most of these pictures were taken by the lovely Natalie Zee Drieu and are linked to her Flickr accordingly.)

Look, Ma! It's me with Han Solo in Carbonite! Natalie took me to meet the seriously awesome Bonnie Burton over at Lucasfilm, and it. was. awesome. I was just sad my son couldn't be there, though I think his little brain might have exploded at the awesomeness.

Here's me and Nat with the Burda Style gang! Love these folks! They put together a fantastic booth, were crazy kinds of organized and were all around awesome, stylish, nice and fun. And how rad is Alden's shirt?

This is me with artist and designer, Laura Cesari. I wrote a profile on Laura over on CRAFT, and fell in love with her solar system necklaces. I not-so-gently hinted that I wanted one for Mother's Day, and thankfully my husband took the bait. I have to say, the necklace was ten times more gorgeous in person. It's weighty and tactile - I love it! Laura did a demo on making a solar system necklace in the CRAFT booth and it was awesome to see how she works. She was so nice, and it was great fun to meet the person who made one of my very favorite pieces of jewelry.

Here's Bonnie Burton - Star Wars Craft Woman Extraordinaire! Bonnie does all the crafts for StarWars.com, has a few Star Wars books under her belt already and has a Star Wars Crafts book coming out this fall that I can't wait to get my paws on. She and Terri Hodges made Star Wars Sack puppets with kids in the CRAFT booth on Saturday, and the kids had such a blast, I decided we're making them at my son's birthday party this weekend.

Here's me and Lish, swapping glasses. Lish's Ray Bans are her Trademark, so I'm pretty sure I freaked her out by suggesting we swap, and I seriously can not rock the Ray Bans like she does .. but it was fun! I love Lish and wish we could hang out, craft and eat cupcakes every day.

Hey look! It's Becky and Collin! Two of my favorite people on the planet! Becky and Collin were roving video reporters all weekend long, and have produced some fantastic videos that help you feel like you were at the Faire. I particularly enjoyed their Raygun Gothic Rocketship video. Nice work, guys! (Also be sure to check out Collin's nutty sci-fi videos that instantly endeared me to him and his rad wife)

One of my very favorite things about Maker Faire is getting to meet so many of my "Internet/Blog" friends in person. I was thrilled to meet Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made. She had her whole family with her, and they were awesome. Cathe was about a million times nicer and more wonderful than I could have imagined. (which reminds me that the only downside to Maker Faire is leaving and wishing I could hang out with these people all the time!)

Me 'n Moxie! Y'all. This woman is really a gem of a human being. The first time I met her in person (at last year's Maker Faire) I came around a corner and almost bumped in to her. When I realized who I was looking at, I balled up my fists, squeezed my eyes shut and squealed like a 4-year-old. This is the effect she has on me. She's one of the most patient teachers I've ever seen, and gives like nobody's business. I. Adore. Her.

Ahhhh yes, conjuring up memories of Maker Faire always makes things better.

John Grunsfeld-Inspired Hubble Cross-Stitch

2010-06-11T11:20:00.007-05:00

UPDATED! My project won First Prize in the Funniest category of the ESA Hubble Pop Culture contest! Read about the win and why you should trust your crazy ideas after you finish reading this post. Mmmmmkay?

We all draw inspiration from different places, and it's obvious that much of my inspiration comes from space and astronomy. This latest project came to mind months ago when I first saw the Hubble IMAX 3D film (which, by the way, you must go see as soon as you finish reading this). Hubble is amazing and inspirational in its own right, but I really love hearing stories from the people who work on the space telescope. John Grunsfeld is one of my favorite astronauts. He's a brilliant astronomer, and from interviews I've read or seen .... he just seems like an all-around fascinating person.

At one point in the Hubble IMAX film, he talks about a particular portion of one of his spacewalks that involved unscrewing more than 100 tiny screws on a part of Hubble.

Now, just take a moment to imagine with me, if you will: Put giant oven mitts on your hands. Now slip a tiny tool between your fingertips. Know that you have more than 100 screws to unscrew on a piece of equipment that is worth millions of dollars and holds great scientific significance. Oh, and don't forget that you are more than 300 miles above earth on a spaceship that's traveling at roughly 17, 500 miles per hour.

Feeling a little lame complaining about the intensity of your to-do list today yet?

Here's where Grunsfeld impresses once again. He talks in the film about how, at this point in his spacewalk, he switches to zen mode. He focuses only on the one screw that he is unscrewing at that very moment. Never how many he's already undone, never how many he has left.

Just one screw at a time.

For some reason, this brief part of his interview really stuck with me. It's so easy to get overwhelmed with daily tasks, life dreams, everything going on each day. My last post about summer glossed over the stress and overwhelm I feel with trying to keep up with work while entertaining and enjoying my kids during the next few months. Inside, I start to freak out.

It seemed the perfect time to tackle this project that had been pinging in the back of my mind since March. I could use a nice visual reminder to not let overwhelm get the best of me.

I'd never designed my own cross-stitch project before, so it was a bit daunting, but I just kept reminding myself, "One Screw At A Time." I found a cross-stitch alphabet I liked, and practiced sketching it out in my handy Maker's Notebook (grid paper FTW!) Once I stitched the words, I realized it needed something else - a little something that would bring Hubble in to the picture (and, hopefully, keep those gutter brains from making jokes about screws). I knew I wanted to include an image of Hubble, but was stumped on how. I didn't have time to do a full-scale Hubble stitching. I needed something simple.

Then I remembered one of my favorite finds and posts over on CRAFT this last year: a Hubble-Shaped paperclip. I pulled up the image and sketched it on my grid paper, cross-stitch style. It worked, for the most part. I did goof on one part while stitching, but I'll just pretend it's not so obvious.

Hopefully this is a good reminder for you, too. Don't get overwhelmed. Just think, "One Screw At A Time."

Summerin'

2010-06-07T23:01:00.003-05:00

It's fun. It's hard.

Balancing the kids and work for the summer can be nuts, but it's worth it. Before long, they'll be sleeping 'til noon and not wanting anything to do with me. So - while it may mean working late at night to get my stuff done, not caring what I look like in a bathing suit at the neighborhood pool, and seeking out every cheap or free thing to do with them in the area, I reckon I'll take that challenge while I can. The house will be messy, I won't feel as sharp in the work world, but I'll also have moments like this.

PS - So not usually this sappy. Blame the lack of sleep and high temps, y'all.

Stitched Gifts for Mom

2010-05-26T17:27:00.006-05:00

I'm just back from Maker Faire and am still in recovery mode, so I thought I'd share some pictures of one of the gifts I stitched this month for my mom. She has a birthday the week before Mother's Day, and this year I had embroidered gifts in mind for both occasions, so that meant tons.of.stitching. and tons.of.fun.

The Mother's Day project hasn't been fully photographed yet, because it still needs to be sewn into a pillow. My sister and I gave each of our kids a piece of typing paper and had them trace their hands and then write their names on the paper. I then transferred those drawings to fabric and stitched them for mom. The result was really fun, because their stitched signatures were each so incredibly different. I loved that! I still need to sew it into a pillow case, but will take pictures once I do.

I also stitched up a set of Mah Jong napkins for mom. As I've mentioned before, we are big fans of Mah Jong. Mom taught me how to play about 10 years ago (eesh - has it been that long!?) and though I don't get to play very often, she has a Mah Jong group that meets regularly. After I stitched the Mah Jong tablecloth that appears in Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects (her designs, just my stitches) I realized I needed to use the patterns to make something for my mom. I didn't have time to do another large tablecloth, so I decided to go for napkins instead.

We offered the Mah Jong patterns as a freebie pattern on CRAFT last Fall, so I used that PDF to shrink the word "Mah Jong" to fit on the napkins. (the napkins came from Pier 1 and are trimmed in jumbo ric rac - WIN!) I put a tile on each one and ended up creating my own version of a Dragon tile to round out the fourth napkin. I don't have a picture of that one yet, though, as some stitches had to be ripped out.

I rolled the napkins up - not laid them out as is seen in the picture here - and put them in a ceramic Chinese take out container that I picked up at World Market. Mom loved them and said she can't wait to host the next round of Mah Jong so she can use them. If I have time, I'll have to stitch up a towel to match ....

Seriously Awesome Space Shuttle Cuff

2010-05-07T08:36:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago, I received the most awesome gift in the mail from Austin jewelry designer, Christine Terrell of Adaptive Reuse. I first met Christine a couple of years ago, and love her cool tin creations. She has a fantastic way of turning everyday tins into super cool adornments.

It's hard for my friends to ignore my space obsession. Folks who read my blog, follow me on Twitter or are friends on Facebook are pretty much inundated with my space-y blathering. I'm thankful that, rather than being annoyed (I hope) they seem to be very responsive. And it's so sweet that they would not only get excited about space, but also help fuel my love of the subject by generously sharing space-related objects with me.

Christine made this rad tin cuff and sent it to me. It arrived on the afternoon of a particularly grueling day, and brought the biggest smile to my face. I love that. Thank you so much, Christine!
Be sure to check out Christine's web site and shop. Here are a few of my favorite pieces of hers:

Cheering on the crafty goodness

2010-04-20T13:23:00.003-05:00

My desk is an absolute wreck right now. Crazy work deadlines, regular ole boring life stuff - just the usual. So I was trying to tidy up a bit and came across this note my daughter left for me on my desk ages ago. I love it so much.

P.S. - the yellow dots are just bled-thru marker from a previous drawing she did
P.P.S. - The transformer is mine. It's my fiddle-with-me-while-you-nervously-giggle-while-on-a-conference-call toy.
P.P.P.S. - Yeah, it's a crappy iPhone pic. I should have at least Hipped it up, eh? Sorry. Gotta make it to the grocery store before I go get the kids from school.
P.P.P.P.S. My P.S.es are now longer than my post

Archive-Along Part 6: Good Ole Tear Sheets

2010-04-12T11:40:00.007-05:00

We're winding down our instructional portion of the Archive-Along, and I'll give more information on the next steps that include you at the end of this post. Today, I'm talking tear sheets. While the impetus of this series was focusing on how we needed to archive digital work, it also makes sense to focus on printed work as well. If you've had any work in print (projects, articles, profiles, etc.) it's important to keep good records of those, and it can't hurt to also convert them to digital files to have extra backups.

When I worked for my college newspaper, we had newsroom assistants who would go through the newspaper every day and create tear sheets for all the reporters. They would cut out every article, tape each to a piece of paper, write the date on the paper and would then file them in a folder for each reporter in our physical archives. (we were juuuuuust getting started online. It was the 90s, kids!) It was a handy way to have all our work in one place and made it easy to find and pull our best pieces when we wanted to create a portfolio.

While most of my work these days is in digital format, I have had some print work that needs to be curated, so to speak. It's important to keep track of the work and have it properly labeled and easily accessible so it can be shared when needed.

I'm including these glimpses of my college work for pure laughter purposes here, folks.

If you are creating tear sheets of your work, you can do one of a few things.

File Folders - go truly old school and do a literal cut-and-paste of printed materials on a piece of 8X11.5 paper, include the date and possibly the masthead of the publication and put them in a file folder. Be sure to use archival supplies. Looking back through my college newspaper archives, I realize that attention to archival quality was ... er ... lacking. And though my college days feel like they just flew by last week, a quick glance at the dates on the pages reminds me it's been a good 15 years since I wrote these gems.

Loose Leaf Notebook - similar to a file folder, but use sheet protectors instead. Creates a handy, portable portfolio.

Digitize 'em! - It is also helpful to scan in and save your print work in digital format. From here, you can back it up or archive it in any of the ways that have been discussed during the Archive-Along. It's nice to be able to point people to my printed work with a simple link, and after the Archive-Along experience, I'm finally just about caught up in having all my print work stored in digital format.

When you are digitizing them, you also have the option to create a bit of a collage to showcase the work and publication. For example, the embroidered ad I did for Tito's vodka that was in BUST magazine and the projects I stitched for Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects book last year could look, instead, like this:

For newer publications, you may find that they keep digital archives already. If they do, fantastic, but you'll also want to save a PDF version just in case they ever remove their archives or switch to a new system where you may have trouble accessing your work (it's happened to me!)

Now that we're winding down the instruction part of the Archive-Along, we're ready for you to chime in with your progress. You've hopefully been ... well ... Archiving right Along with us, but if you are still in the process of backing up and creating portfolios, take a couple of days to finish up what you can and share your progress with us. As you know, Diane is podcasting the heck out of the Crafty Chica Cruise right now, so we have some downtime when you can get your work together. Share it in the comments with links or in our Flickr group. We'll have a round up of reader-submitted tips, projects and successes next week! Thanks so much for joining us, and let us know if you have any questions or tips you'd like to offer!

Archive-Along Part 5: Backing up your Tweets

2010-04-08T13:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's Archive-Along post from Diane on Blog Books was fantastic. I especially loved the magazine option for printing copies of your best blog posts. I had no idea that was available, and it's got me thinking that I will likely combine that option with my tweets discussed here today to create a special publication of my space shuttle launch adventures ....

Today's Archive-Along installment is about backing up your tweets.

At first glance, the idea of backing up handfuls of 140 character bits of conversation may seem silly, but if you think again (and if you've been using Twitter effectively) you'll realize how much valuable information is contained in your tweets.

There are two kinds of tweets that making backing up your Twitter feed important: the ones in which you share useful information/links/pictures and the ones which capture in-the-moment expressions of special occasions. Twitter quickly became my go-to social network, and I found it was the easiest, quickest way to disperse information or commentary on something I was doing. Because of that, some of my richest bits of memories are floating out there in Twitterland. This is especially true for my space shuttle launch experience.

I also find myself using Twitter constantly to share interesting things I find on the internet. I'm an internet junkie, and the only thing I love more than finding cool stuff on the internet is sharing it with friends. But where do all these found gems disappear to if I shoot them out to Twitter and then do nothing to follow up?

Here are some options for backing up your tweets:

A backup service
There are several services out there for backing up your tweets. They range from free to small monthly or annual fees. Mashable has a nice roundup here. Choosing a service will be mostly personal preference and what your budget allows. Be sure to look for things like easy searching, option to add tags to your tweets, backup of favorites/mentions/DMs, etc.

I favorite things in Twitter like crazy. I'll often zip through Twitter while I'm waiting somewhere (at the doctor's office, in a line, after-school pick up for the kids) and if I see something that looks interesting but I don't have time to read it right away, I'll favorite the tweet so I can go back and check it out later. My favorites become (for the most part) a rich bookmark resource. I want those suckers to be saved!

Another tip: Use your hashtags! If you are tweeting from an event or on a special subject, pick a hashtag, stick to it and use it every.single.time. I realized that I wasn't doing this during my STS-130 launch experience, and if I'd come up with my own special tag, finding my tweets later would have been muuuuuuch easier. Learn from my mistake!

Analog backup:
In addition to backing up your tweets online, it can be fun to find other ways of using your tweets in your work. Think back to Diane's post about archiving your blog in zine format. If you were creating a zine based around a particular event or special subject on which you'd also been tweeting, pulling those tweets into the zine can be a great way to sprinkle personal commentary throughout the publication. And now that I've read about the glossy printed magazine DIY option from Diane's post yesterday, I really want to try this with my MAKE pieces and tweets from the launch.

Again, I'll use my space shuttle launch experience to demonstrate. After the launch, I put together an iPhoto book that chronicled my adventures before, during and after the launch. One thing I really wanted to include, but ended up not having time to, was screen shots of some of my tweets throughout that experience. Honestly, I ran out of time. I wanted the book done in time to take down to Houston for the debrief event so I could have it signed by the crew. I didn't have time to search my tweets (that weren't backed up at the time - argh!) and pull screen shots.

For those of you who use Twitter regularly and effectively, your tweets become an important extension of your blog conversations. Backing them up needs to be a priority.

Archive-Along Part 4: Blog Books

2010-04-07T13:47:00.004-05:00

Slight change of plan here. I was supposed to be posting about backing up your Tweets today, but during my research of tweet backup options, hit a few potholes in the road. Never fear, though, Diane has stepped in with her awesome post on turning blog posts into books using various online printing services. She gives great tips and nice overviews of three different services. Check out her post, and then be ready for my Tweet backup post tomorrow and a post on tearsheets on Friday.

Are you archiving along with us? Be sure to leave comments with your experiences so we can blog about you and check out the main Archive-Along post on Diane's site. See you back here tomorrow!

Archive-Along Part 3: Backing up Your Blog

2010-04-05T12:10:00.005-05:00

Today's Archive Along posts from Diane are like gold. She's covering how to back up your blog, whether you host your blog through a free service like Blogger or Wordpress or if you host it yourself. She also covers how to back up the images you use in your blog. Her advice and instruction are - as usual - impeccable and incredibly valuable. Go read it right now, and then back up your blog today. I love her idea, too, of setting a recurring event in her Google calendar to remind her to back up her blog every week. Handy!

Next on the Archive-Along agenda: I'll be covering backing up your tweets (Twitter) on Wednesday.

Don't forget, you can see the full Archive-Along index over on Diane's site, and be sure to Archive-Along with us and share your tips and results in the comments so we can share them in our big wrap up once the Archive-Along is complete!

Archive-Along Part 2: Using Google Profiles to Archive and Promote Your Best Work

2010-04-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Diane took you on a bit of an analog adventure for archiving your best online work. I'm still daydreaming about whipping up little blog collection zines for my friends and family members. It's just a brilliant idea!

Now it's my turn, and today we're going digital.

I knew about Google Profiles, but hadn't looked into them much before a few months ago. I was trying to do some background research on a friend for a story, and when I asked her if she had any articles or information online that I could browse, she sent me one handy link: her Google Profile. There, she had linked several articles about her work and awards, as well as her various online presences (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

I instantly realized the value of such a page. Not only is it a great way to easily organize links to your best work, but it's a great way of having one place to which you can direct folks when you have a robust online presence. Think of it as less formal than a resume, but more formal than a Facebook profile.

I'm almost tempted to change my email signature to a link to my Google Profile page. Right now, my signature is several lines long, and I still don't have links to everything I'd like folks to check out. If I just had a link to my Google Profile, they could go there and see and use as much or as little as they want. Tempting ...

Another great thing about Google Profiles is that you can include a batch of photos that will rotate when people visit. This is especially valuable for folks who are making things and want to display pictures of them.

How to set up your Google Profile:
You'll need a Google/Gmail account and will need to be logged in when you visit the main Google Profiles page. There, you'll see a button that says, "View My Profile." Click that button to be taken to your profile page. If you haven't added any extra information to your profile before, you'll see a message that tells you you need to add more information before your profile can be featured in Google Searches. Click "Add more information" and let's get started!

From here, it's pretty straightforward. Just fill in the blanks as you see fit. (You don't have to enter text in all the boxes if you don't want to) When you enter cities in the "where I grew up, where I live now, places I've lived" those spots will show up on a small Google Map under "My Places" on your profile.

Under "Short Bio," you can write your personal elevator pitch. I'd recommend keeping it short, sweet and to the point, but not so stuffy that it comes off like a cover letter. You can include links and some formatting in your bio. Use with care!

Now the really good stuff: Links and Photos
Adding links is pretty straightforward as well. I recommend first adding all the places you can be found online: your blog, your Etsy shop, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Follow that up with links to your best work. Find some of your best writing, projects, etc. and link those babies up. Next, if you've been written about online (profiles, interviews) link to those. If you decide you want to change the order of your list of links, just use the little up and down arrows to move the links around. Be thoughtful about your grouping and keep like items together, and describe the links well so folks will be able to determine if they want to click or not.

Adding Pictures:
Click the "Photos" tab at the top of the page to add pictures to your profile. You will be able to pull items from Picasa, Flickr, or an album to which you can link. If you are pulling items from Flickr (not sure about Picasa) you can pull from a specific set. I ended up setting up a specific set called "Google Profile" in my Flickr stream so I could put in pictures from all areas of my work (embroidery, writing, space geekery).

Maintaining Your Profile
Once you've put in the effort to get your profile page all nice an organized, you just need to remember to update it every once in a while. When you publish a great project, get featured on another website, or upload a favorite picture to Flickr, just take a couple of minutes to add the link to the profile and the picture to your set and you'll be all ... set. From there, any time you need to send a succinct set of your best work to someone, you'll have just the thing!

Archive-Along Part 1: Zines

2010-03-31T11:45:00.003-05:00

Diane has the first post of our Archive-Along series, and she's covering how to archive your best work in zine format. I love this for so many reasons. Be sure to check out the comments that are already brewing on her post to see why I love it so much and how people plan on using this as a chance to connect with some of their non-blog-reading friends and family members (yes, there are a few left!)

Check back here tomorrow for my first post of the series: Using Google Profiles to archive, organize and promote your work!

Kicking off the Archive-Along

2010-03-29T09:30:00.001-05:00

Sparked by a simple comment in a chat room a few weeks ago, Diane of Crafty Pod and I have put together a special blog-project on the subject of archiving your online work. The Archive-Along kicks off today, and is aimed at helping you explore various ways to create online and hard copy portfolios of some of your best online work.

Part of what interested me in this subject was my work on covering the STS-130 mission for MAKE. All my work for that project was online, and I wrote some of my favorite stories of my career during that time. And then I started to wonder .... where does all that work go? Hitting "post" sends it out into the virtual cosmos, and while folks read and commented on the stories, once they were out there for a while it just felt like they were kind of ... gone. I thought about how I'll want to share these stories with my kids and grandkids years from now and realized that, unless I was proactive with my archiving, I might not be able to.

Diane and I started brainstorming on the idea of archiving our work, and realized this is a great opportunity to engage the blogging community at-large (and not just crafters!) to share ways to make sure your best work is preserved and to see what other ideas you may be able to offer.

Even if you haven't been "published" on large web sites, it's important to go ahead and start developing good content archiving habits. It's also a great way to have one go-to spot to share your best work with potential publishers. Regardless of your level of blogging, project writing or experience, joining in on the Archive-Along is the first step to making sure your work never goes "poof" with no record left behind.

Over the next two weeks, Diane and I will share tutorials on various methods of creating digital and hard copy archives of your work. We encourage you to follow along and post summaries of your results and experience in the comments here. As you create your online portfolios, be sure to share them in the comments as well. Also be sure to keep up with the main Archive-Along page where we'll keep track of all our tutorials and feedback from participants.

Lastly, head over to the Archive-Along Flickr group and grab an Archive-Along button for the side bar for your blog! We're looking forward to helping you (and ourselves) get more organized, develop solid archiving habits and give all your hard work the care and curating it deserves!

Unicorn Embroidery Thrift Find

2010-03-24T23:37:00.005-05:00

Miss me? I'll fill you in on where I've been after I introduce you to one of my favorite thrift finds ever.

Like most crafty folks, I have a love affair with thrift shops. One of my favorite embroidery projects of all time was a thrift find. I love finding stitch kits when I'm perusing thrift stores, and have a couple of shelves full of them in my big book case in my office.

This unicorn find from a couple of weeks ago was a jackpot hit for me. It wasn't in its original packaging, but it had everything else with it.

And, sure, it's cool because it's full of 1980s goodness (it's stamped on the back: 1982) but what was really fascinating is the little palette of threads already set up to start the project.

Whoever had this kit got fully set up to stitch before apparently abandoning the project. All the threads (regular 6-stranded cotton floss, crewel wool and even metallic cording) have all been looped thoughtfully into the palette.

They even methodically marked off all the required threads on the chart.

I'm so curious what made them put the project down....

I'm thinking I'll pick it up for some summer stitching. I've got several other projects in the queue right now, but this bright and cheery piece will be perfect for some poolside stitching.

So where have I been? Mostly working. Keeping up with my three posts a day and social media management over at the dandy CRAFT and keeping up with teaching classes. Add to that kiddos and all the space adventures I've been having, and something had to give for a bit. However, my good pal, Diane, and I have some fantastic stuff in store for you in the next few weeks, so rest assured - the hiatus is o-v-e-r. :)

Stitching Endeavour's De-orbit Map

2010-02-22T13:01:00.010-06:00

You know how you have a million project ideas floating around in your head at any given moment? Things you've wanted to tackle for a while, but the timing just seems off? And then - in one blissful moment, your idea meets with the perfect resources and just the right amount of time and you're able to pull it off. Isn't that just one of the best feelings ever?

It's a rare feeling for me, but I take it when I can get it, and I got it last night.

I've wanted to embroider a shuttle's de-orbit map for a long time. The instant I saw one, my brain pinged, "STITCH IT!" which I think is a common occurrence for embroiderers. We see any kind of line drawing and immediately think, "Hey! I could stitch that!"

I particularly love the old school computer display look of the de-orbit maps (thanks for the Wargames reminder, Matt) and just love the idea of the symbolism of such a simple path home for such a complicated vehicle and mission. It seems though, that all the previous missions whose de-orbit maps I've wanted to stitch have never come together at just the right time - with all those magical elements meeting.

I started eyeing Endeavour's de-orbit maps a couple of days ago, and knew that if there ever was a time for me to make this project work, it was now. How could I not stitch the de-orbit map of the first shuttle I've seen launch? I didn't want to jinx her landing, though, by stitching the first de-orbit map only to find that she was delayed or rerouted to some other location. So I waited and held out hope that the pesky weather would clear and I could get to the business of stitching.
And it did. Just more than one hour before she was set to land, she was given the all clear for weather and the go ahead to execute the de-orbit burn that would commit her to landing. I literally jumped out of my chair, ran to my craft room and gathered my supplies. I had one scrap of black fabric, perfect for the background. I grabbed one of my many containers of embroidery floss, and it just happened to have every color I needed. I printed the map, transferred it with carbon paper and was off.

Two weeks ago, in the wee hours of a chilly Monday morning, I was in the press room at Kennedy Space Center, waiting to see if Endeavour would be given the all clear for weather and a "go" for launch. They'd gone back and forth and back and forth, and the speculation, coupled with the increasing crowds and noise in the press room, started to get to me. I bundled up, grabbed my laptop and escaped to the water's edge at the press launch viewing site, with the giant countdown clock just behind me. It felt so nice to break away and soak in the moment, with very few people around me. It was a privilege to sit there and watch Endeavour on the launch pad, knowing her crew was busy inside hoping just as hard as I was that they would be launching soon. I was so glad I took the time to escape and quiet my surroundings so I could focus on what was going on.
I felt the same way last night. As soon as Endeavour was given the "go" to land, Twitter went haywire - all abuzz with racing comments and recap of what was happening on NASA tv. And while I adore Twitter, stepping away from it for one hour to stitch and listen to the soothing (to me, come on, I'm a dork!) chatter of Mission Control was one of the best things I could do.

I kept the project small - about 5 inches square - and stitched as fast as I could. But you know as well as I do - you really can't rush stitching. And you can't multitask with it either. So I stitched and stitched and stitched. And just as I was getting to the part of stitching the flight path, Endeavour showed up on the screen as a little red triangle, slowly (well, actually pretty darn fast) going down the same path I was stitching.
With just under 10 minutes to spare, I completed the stitching and was able to sit back and watch her landing with a giant smile on my face. (and, yeah, tears streaming down my face)

As I looked at the piece this morning, I can see its glaring imperfections. Uneven stitches, could have worked the final bits of the flight path in a more interesting way, didn't have time to stitch in all the numbers, but I don't care. I'm so glad I jumped up and forced myself into a project. It took me less than an hour to complete something I've been thinking about doing for almost a year.

Image courtesy collectSPACE

What can you whip up tonight?

Gone Spacing

2010-02-17T11:12:00.004-06:00

Crafting is still happening (in fact, I've even been teaching in the midst of all this space craziness!) but I am knee-deep in the bliss of STS-130 so I'll report back on the classes and astronaut embroidery update soon!

Want to join in the mission fun? Follow me on twitter!

Embroidered Peg Board & a look at my craft space

2010-02-01T11:33:00.005-06:00

Over on CRAFT, we're just wrapping up one of our most fun and most popular series: Make Space For Crafting. During the last month, we've featured numerous craft spaces of some of our favorite crafty peeps as well as loads of tutorials and projects that are perfect for organizing your own craft space. I love that we've had spaces from tiny craft closets to vast, gorgeous studios, and projects that range from fast and easy to more elaborate. I highly recommend checking out the complete series archive.

I just posted up a peek inside my craft space last night. Mine's not completely finished - I still have some art to hang on the walls and a curtain to hang over my closet and roman shades to make/purchase/hang, but it's getting there, and I love it oh so much. Having my own space - especially since I work from home - is so important. I can go in there and really feel comfortable and inspired to work. Love that.

One of my favorite things in my craft space is my peg boards. Peg boards are one of the handiest organizational tools around, and I decided to gussy mine up with some embroidery with yarn. I love having over-sized embroidery stitches up on my wall.

Check out the piece and more pictures over on my Flickr stream. Do you have any favorite craft spaces to share? Any tips of your own? Let me know in the comments. Our main Make Space for Crafting series may be over, but with response as great as we've received, we're working on ways to keep it alive in some form.

Astronaut stitching in progress

2010-01-28T22:05:00.008-06:00

In a few weeks, I'm teaching my first session of Hand Embroidery II over at the Stitch Lab. As part of the class, we'll work on transforming a photograph into an embroidery pattern. I wanted to stitch up an example for the class, but wasn't sure what picture to use. I decided I wanted something space-themed (remember the Space Geek side of me?) so I started to dig around on the Great Images of NASA web site and found my inspiration pretty quickly. It's not too hard to be inspired by the amazing wealth of images over there.

I have to admit, this is one of the most difficult pieces I've ever set to work on. It's not necessarily a complicated piece, but there are tiny details and lots of parts that need to be stitched just right so they make sense. Stitching faces and eyes is hard! Those eyelashes? That's stem stitch in one strand of embroidery floss. Sure, to the classically-trained hard core needle artist, that's nothing big, but for someone who generally sticks with basic patterns and pre-fab designs, this is a step up for me. I'm feeling a bit out of my element and intimidated and a bit concerned on how the piece will turn out.

I'm not usually this way. I'm queen of "Don't worry about perfection, just have fun!" So what's changed?

I guess I'm just looking for a challenge and wanting to see something big all the way through. I may not like to admit it, but I tend to be a shortcut kinda gal. I get fired up about something and then peter out a bit when things get tough. I'm enjoying the idea that this piece is forcing me to overcome that.

And on the subject of space - I have another adventure that is exciting and thrilling and pushing my comfort zones a bit. I'm covering the launch of STS-130 Shuttle Endeavour for MAKE magazine. I can't believe my luck, and I'm looking forward to soaking up as much fun, information and as many opportunities as possible out of the next two weeks. You can keep up with my coverage over on MAKE, Twitter and Flickr. Hope you'll come along for the ride!

So what are you doing that's challenging you these days? How are you staying motivated to keep up even when you're intimidated and feeling a bit out of your element?

What have I made lately ......

2010-01-14T10:11:00.004-06:00

I was hanging out with a friend over the holidays, and the conversation turned to crafting. She asked me, "So, what have you been making lately?" and I instantly thought, "Well, gee, nothing I guess."

And then I had to start thinking again. You see, I haven't been blogging much of what I've made lately, but I have actually been making loads of things. I realized that I have a whole mental list of blog posts about things I've made, and just haven't been so efficient in getting them ... posted. I kinda blame Twitter. I post loads of stuff there that I forget to formally photograph and post here. Don't hate!

I keep waiting for Google to be able to actually read my mind, take pictures of my projects and post them (it doesn't seem too far stretched for them) but until then, here's a simple list of some things I've made that I'll post more about soon:

A rocking charm bracelet in the fun vintage charm class with Jennifer Perkins
Some very cool space geek tote bags that I made in Kat McTee's Easy Screen and Stitch class
Gingerbread Houses! Like, from scratch and everything! It was a messy, delicious-smelling adventure!
Dot-to-dot embroidery!
Holiday towel embroidery!
crewel work!
ribbon embroidery!

And more - really! Just hang tight, ok? :)

The Handmade Telescope & what it's meant to me

2009-12-29T14:55:00.005-06:00

So my husband made the most awesome gift for me this year: a telescope.

Yeah. A t-e-l-e-s-c-o-p-e.

He worked on it for more than a month - evenings, weekends, he was holed up in our garage, working away. It never occurred to me that he was making a telescope. I mean - who does that? Especially when they haven't made anything before. That's right, this was my husband's first woodworking project.

I was excited to get to share it with the MAKE readers yesterday, and was surprised to learn that it had been picked up by Gizmodo. (although, no, Chris hasn't cheated on me.)

Because you can read about the actual telescope everywhere else, I thought I'd examine some interesting thoughts and emotions that have surfaced in the wake of revealing the project.

Setting the bar high
A friend's husband emailed her when he saw the project on Gizmodo, saying Chris had "raised the bar" on husband/wife gifts. I guess he has, but here's the thing: Chris and I rarely exchange gifts. I've actually watched said friend exchange sweet, small gifts with her husband for years, and wished Chris and I did more of that. There's something to be said for small, meaningful, frequent gifts. Sure, a handmade telescope that ends up getting a lot of internet publicity is cool, but it doesn't mean that smaller gifts aren't special or should be made to feel inadequate.

A gift for gift's sake
The closing line on the Gizmodo post really zinged me:

So Rachel, you've got a really nice husband, but he's probably cheated on you in the past year. That's the only logical explanation.

I know this is just hipster snark, and that's fine and all, but really? Are we all so jaded that we can't accept that someone would make a gift for gift's sake (or for - gasp - love!)? I also like to think this was as much a gift for Chris as it was for me. He works a lot, and the hours he spent in the garage with his favorite music playing was an excellent way to unwind and relax and get creative for a bit. To me, the gift of the telescope is secondary to that gift of time for himself.

Inspiring some low self-esteem
One thing that has surprised me about myself from all of this is a bit of a feeling of inadequacy. (and, yeah, I know this is just my own little issue and I'll get over it just fine, but it's still worth mentioning) Remember how I said this was Chris' first woodworking project? It's really his first project of any sort, and he nailed it. Like on-the-head nailed it. He decided to do it, found plans online and excecuted it perfectly. Has my first version of anything I've made ever been anywhere in the same vicinity of perfect?

Hell. no.

What gives? I'm suppposed to be the creative one in our equation. I'm supposed to be the "Maker" here. He's the accountant, the spreadsheet guy, and now he's showing me up in the field of making stuff, too? It's causing me to reevaluate my methods. Sometimes I'm a little too happy-go-lucky-fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-give-plans-the-finger. Maybe there's something to be said for his extrememe focus, determination and fortitude. I rarely finish a project on time, I'm always scrambling, procrastinating ... playing. He started and finished the project BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. Done and done. Do NOT get me wrong, playing is essential, but sometimes I mistake lollygagging for playing and my work suffers.

I know Chris didn't expect all this to come from the telescope project, and if anything it's just an interesting way to see how a handmade gift can spark more thought and discussion than you imagined. Who knew a gift made to look out into the heavens could turn focus so much closer to home?

Get Your Glee On!

2009-12-18T10:12:00.004-06:00

It's finally here! The Official Grand Opening Soiree for the Stitch Lab! Leslie and Carol have put together an amazing weekend of the most awesome indie crafters in Austin, and the Lab is all decked out for a glee-filled event. Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8PM, guests can peruse the goods of more than 20 of Austin's best-loved artisans, munch on seriously tasty vittles and sip festive bevvies. Best yet, all of the yummy fabrics and wool felt at the Stitch Lab are a whopping 20% off. I was just in the Lab this week, teaching a class, and saw some of the newest fabrics Leslie has stocked. Oh. My. Goodness. I wanted to lick every last bit of it! It was all so dreamy!

You can read all about the event and all the vendors over on the event page. I can't wait to get over there and splurge on some fabric and felt and other goodies as a little Christmas gift to myself. ;) Hope to see you there!

And in case you missed it, my good pal, Misty, did a beautiful write up and house tour of the Stitch Lab for Apartment Therapy. The pictures are divine! Enjoy!

Hurrah! It's the new CRAFT!

2009-12-01T11:20:00.008-06:00

UPDATED to add: Natalie has posted a great guide and introduction to the new CRAFT web site - read on to see all the new stuff! And - sign up for our newsletter to be entered in giveaways every day for a week. Today (Tuesday, Dec. 1) we are giving away a Yudu Screen Printing Machine from Provocraft! Go sign up and spread the word!)

This morning larked the launch of the new CRAFT web site. The redesign includes further integration of all the elements you loved in the print version of the magazine, as well as your daily dose of inspiration with exclusive projects and highlights from the best craft blogs around. We also have great contests and opportunities for participation (Twilight knit-along, anyone?)

I'm so incredibly proud of the team of folks who made all this happen. You can't imagine the hours of work and dedication that go into a massive site overhaul like this (and we're not just talking about making things look nice - it's got major backend work to make the site more user-friendly). It's just more proof of CRAFT's dedication to being the absolute hub for all things craft-related on the internet. We have a team of awesome folks working our backsides off to make the site its best and who give the site a certain flavor and style you can't find anywhere else. We also have tons of great, highly talented contributors who bring exclusive content (along with their expertise) to the site. It makes for an incredibly rich resource. I feel crazy lucky to be a part of it.

Check it out and let us know what you think! Be sure to check out all the new sections listed across the top of the page (you'll recignize them from the print magazine) and be sure to either subscribe to our RSS or CRAFT Daily so you can keep up with all the great content that is posted each and every day.

Among other things, I've got a great profile piece on artist, fabric designer and awesome mom (to SIX), Anna Maria Horner. It was such a treat to interview her. I was blown away not just by all she does, but also (and more importantly) the spirit with which she does it. Enjoy!

Craft Leftovers Winners!

2009-11-30T10:43:00.006-06:00

With all the holiday hubbub, I forgot to post the Craft Leftovers winners! Thanks for the comments! I got my copy of the new CL last week, and have loved reading it over the holiday weekend. Kristin has outdone herself!

So here are the lucky winners!

Please send an email to averagejanecrafter at gmail dot com with your shipping info!

Embroidery Floss Overload

2009-11-29T23:33:00.005-06:00

A year and a half ago, I had the privilege to work with three other women, stitching projects for Jenny Hart's latest book, Embroidered Effects. Aside from the honor of being asked to participate, and the fun of working with such insanely talented stitchers, one of the really fun perks was receiving a designer's pack of embroidery floss from Presencia to use for stitching the projects.

This brick of embroidery floss - every color in the Prescencia family - arrived on my doorstep and literally made me cry a little as I opened it. Somehow in the midst of my floss freakout, I had the wherewithal to grab my camera and snap some pictures before I demolished the brick and set to work stitching.

Remember that feeling you had when you got a new box of crayons - especially if you were lucky enough to get the 64-count box? That immense feeling of possibility you had when you pulled back the lid and saw all the pristine colors neatly organized and ready for creating ... that was magic, right? That's exactly how I felt when I opened this package of embroidery floss. I was overwhelmed by an intense feeling of gratitude and an immediate need to create. It was awesome. Looking at the pictures brings all that emotion right back, and I'm so glad I snapped them. Enjoy! See more on my Flickr set, and zoom in for optimal floss freakout.

Getting Bent with Terry Border

2009-11-18T11:08:00.005-06:00

Terry Border makes me laugh.

A lot.

And since I'm a big fan of laughing, I'm a big fan of Terry's and his hilarious Bent Objects art. I'm guessing that, by now, you've seen his art around the internet, on your local bookstore's shelves and even on the Target greeting card aisle. And I'm guessing you've been laughing, too.

Terry's new book, Bent Objects - The Secret Life of Everyday Things, is a collection of new pieces from Border that are hilarious, clever and sometimes just a bit racy. I've followed Terry's work for a long time now, and was a bit curious about how I'd react to his book. Here was an artist whose work I'd enjoyed online for ages, complimented by his personal quips. Would I get the same hysterical laughter reaction and feeling of personal connection from a hold-in-my-hands book?

In a word: Yes.

Terry's book is hysterical. His pieces of art straddle whimsy and dark humor in the same page and make you think. Sure, you're thinking about things like hot dogs pooping baked beans, but your thinking. And you're laughing. A lot. In fact, I just picked the book up to flip through and come up with a list of favorite images, and I gut laughed on every.single.page.

When the book arrived in the mail, my entire family gathered around to read it together. Don't think this is some Rockwellian regular occurrence. I should say that once I started to read it and laugh hysterically, the family gathered around to see what was so funny. And we all laughed. A lot. Some of the jokes are above the kids heads (read: a doughnut dad's "point of view" as he sends his doughnut daughter off with her hot dog boyfriend) but they still got many of them, and just seeing things like chapstick with arms, legs and on a skateboard made them laugh. A lot.

I love this book, and every time I pick it up, I find something new I somehow missed. The details are spot on, and the humor is fantastically brilliant. (it reminds me a lot of The Far Side in that read ... wait 2-3-4 ... LAUGH kind of way)

I have to confess that I received Terry's book weeks ago and have been holding off to review it for one simple reason: I wanted to try a Bent Object myself. You see, Terry includes a tutorial for making a cork person Bent Object at the end of his book. This endeared him to me even more, and I was hell bent (ha!) on making one. I finally grabbed some wire at the craft store the other day, but I had no wine corks here at home. As I sat in my office, looking around at all my crafty bits, it struck me.

I call it "Getting ready for a hot date"

I hope it makes you laugh. A lot. (or a bit, who am I kidding - I'm an amateur here!)

PS - making a Bent Object was far more difficult than I expected it to be, and photographing it was insanely hard. The massive amounts of respect I had for Terry have been quadrupled.

Big News From Craft Leftovers Monthly A discount and a giveaway

2009-11-16T10:11:00.005-06:00

Craft Leftovers was one of the very first craft blogs I read on a regular basis. There was something about Kristin's reuse philosophy and comfortable writing style that had me hooked from the first Craft Leftover's post I ever read.

Later, she posted a call for readers to create craft projects from fabric or items they had on hand. I created my first version of the armrest embroidery organizer and was thrilled when she posted about it. (and was even more thrilled when it was picked up by Craftzine - something that made me insanely giddy!) My devotion to Kristin and Craft Leftovers was sealed.

After a couple of years of emailing, I was finally able to meet Kristin at Maker Faire back in May. She was just as sweet and kind and generous and passionate as I'd imagined she'd be.

One of the things I've loved watching Kristin develop over the years is her Craft Leftovers Monthly, a zine and kits she offers on either issue-by-issue or subscription basis. The zines have Kristin's special style woven in to ever detail, and are fantastic sources of inspiration and information. From Kristin:

Craft Leftovers Monthly is all about living life creatively. It's full of resourceful projects, patterns, and ideas for using what's on hand. It turned two years old in August and is 100% recycled and 100% handmade!

She's just announced that, after two years, Craft Leftovers Monthly has outgrown it's initial quarter-page format. The new Craft Leftovers Monthly is larger in format and page count, and now includes projects from from guest designers for the first time ever.

And here's the sweetest part of the deal: Kristin has generously offered Average Jane Crafter readers a special 20% discount on their entire shop order at Craft Leftovers ( Just enter avgjanecraft as your coupon code*). And, she's given me a couple of copies of Craft Leftovers Monthly to give away to my readers. Just leave a comment by 6PM on Wednesday, Nov 18 and I'll draw a winner on Thursday. Thanks, Kristin! Check out her web site to read more about her art, craft and reuse philosophy!

* Use avgjanecraft as your coupon code to get 20% off your entire order from the Craft Leftovers Monthly category (not including shipping). The offer is good through December 15th!

Dreamy New Stitch Lab Stitch with me here next week!

2009-11-05T11:05:00.005-06:00

The Stitch Lab move is complete, and the new location is one of the coziest, warmest, most welcoming and inspiring places I have ever experienced. Leslie's attention to detail is phenomenal, and every little nook and cranny has something special in it. The sewing space is large and open and fantastically functional. The handwork room is cozy and filled with inspiring embroidered pieces and the most awesome crazy quilt curtains you have ever seen. Even the bathroom is inspiring and fun! Come. ON! I love this place! I just want to hang out there all day long and make stuff!

1. Lab A, 2. Lab B, 3. Lab A, 4. Lab B

You can come hang out with me - for a class at least. I have a class scheduled for Monday, Nov 9. This will be my first class to teach at the new place, and I'm so excited! Come on and join us, won't you!? If you need more convincing, read my post about what past students have had to say about my hand embroidery classes at The Stitch Lab.

Even if you can't make next week's class, you need to stop by the Lab (we have retail hours now!) and check out the stunning selection of yummy fabrics. It'll knock your socks off.

Enjoy, and I hope to see you at the new Stitch Lab soon!

For all the t-shirt hoarders in the house

2009-10-28T08:57:00.005-05:00

My family has always teased me about my massive collection of t-shirts - almost to the point of convincing me to trash all my "meaningful" old shirts. Almost. But there's been a small group of shirts that I've held on to for years - some all the way back to third grade - and I finally found a way to put them all to good use.

We're in the middle of a very cool contest over at CRAFT right now (raise your hand if you'd like to have a serger! Then, quick, go enter the contest!) called Me, My Scarf & I. The contest requires you to sew a scarf that somehow matches or speaks to your personality. I loved this idea, and when I was cleaning out my closet a few weeks ago and found a stash of my old t-shirts, I knew exactly what to do with them.

I posted the resulting project up on CRAFT yesterday, and have gotten some very generous, kind responses. I've also had a few very small world encounters - one person who lived in my home town and was in the newspaper for which my dad was the publisher, and one friend from high school who recognized the t-shirt from our production of Fiddler on the Roof. Very cool!

This project was so easy - a little time consuming, but used very basic sewing skills, and it makes me so happy to see the shirts in this new way. Go check it out, and also check out what the fate of my beloved Space Camp t-shirt was .....

Come stitch with me!

2009-10-26T11:15:00.005-05:00

Austin folks, here's your reminder about my hand embroidery classes at the Stitch Lab! And have you heard the news? The Stitch Lab is moving to a NEW, fantastic location! Beginning next week, classes will be held at 1000 S. 1st street, a charming, comfy house with loads of space for classes and y-u-m-m-y fabric. We'll even have a separate room for the hand work classes (like embroidery!). I can. not. wait. to get teaching in there. I was able to help paint in the hand work room a few weeks ago (before the flu plague hit us) and it is just so awesome. This is going to be the place to get crafty and comfy and connect with friends. HURRAH!

With the new location comes more of the fabulous class offerings. I truly can't express how lucky I feel to be a part of a group of such awesome instructors and of a teaching facility that offers such a varied and interesting array of classes.

As always, I'll be teaching hand embroidery classes. We're also working on adding in some advanced embroidery and silk ribbon embroidery classes, so be sure to sign up for the newsletter to get the up-to-date info on that. I have ONE SPOT that just opened in my class this Wednesday. It will be the last time I teach at the original Stitch Lab location, and I'm excited to get back to teaching after being off for a few weeks.

If you can't make this Wednesday's class, check the schedule for loads of other opportunities. Grab a friend and learn to stitch! You won't be disappointed. Here are some nice things my students have said about their embroidery class experience:

Thank you for introducing me to the world of embroidery. I'm an addict! There is something so cathartic about pushing and pulling a needle and thread through taut fabric... It's a cheap drug! And I want to thank you for being so patient with me during class. You made me feel so comfortable with the whole process. ~Jen

You now have me hooked completely. Thanks for a great class! ~Jean

Thanks so much for the class! I have been embroidering the heck out of anything I can get my hands on! ~Jessica

Our class sampler, stitched by Eliza!

From Eliza's blog:
Rachel’s class was wonderfully fun, but it wasn’t until the next morning that I realized the calming effect stitching has on me. I finished my french knots while waiting in my car for an early meeting to start and instantly became relaxed.

Some of Eliza's post-class handiwork! Amazing!

Thanks so much to all the rad students I've had. You make my job very easy and very, very, fun.

So what are you waiting for? Nab that last spot in this week's class or grab a spot in one of the others. It's time to unlock the stitcher inside of YOU!