Randomness

Over Thanksgiving Break, Drew and I took a trip to Missouri to visit his family. We had an extra day, so, Drew, his brother, Steven, and I hopped in the car and drove to St. Louis to visit the Zoo and to see the arch. It was SO much fun. Here are some photos of our trip.

Butterfly in the St. Louis Zoo.

The St. Louis Zoo has an awesome penguin house. I highly recommend it if you ever go! The zoo is free!!!

The St. Louis Arch from directly underneath.

Steven, Me and Drew at the Arch.

This crazy monkey at the zoo was trying to get into the feed bag. It was SO funny to watch!

November

So, I definitely do not want this blog to turn into the Marcie saga, because I definitely attract enough drama to keep a few readers interested. I am kind of down right now though, so, I thought I would write a little to get a little weight off my shoulders and hopefully gain some perspective about the things that are troubling me right now.

A year ago today, my aunt and friend passed away very suddenly. This was truly my first encounter with death on a personal level, and it has plagued my mind daily. Jana was a very special person. She dealt with a lot of really hard things, but she always had a smile on her face and could always make me laugh. I think the thing I remember most about her - the thing that pops into my head everytime I think about her (which is quite often) is her laugh. It was so genuine and unique. The smile that went along with it was so special, and you could tell that she wished she could make you happy and healthy and everything wonderful. She was always a person I could go to that understood me, that I could talk to and she would know what I was talking about and really understand my point of view. She was family, but she didn't think like the rest of my family does, and she never treated me as though I were her younger niece - I was a friend and a peer to her. I miss her more than I can even begin to describe, and I am trying very hard not to cry as I write this. I know that death is never easy to deal with, but because she left so suddenly, it has been something that has been so difficult for me to understand and move past. I just got a new cell phone last weekend and when I was transferring phone numbers, I realized that her number was still in my phone. I have dreams about her all the time - like she is still here. Sorry, I am not meaning to sound melodramatic - just thinking about her too much makes me sad, and that, in turn, makes me angry, because I feel like her memory should make me happy, not sad. She made a huge impact on my life, and I wish I could thank her for that.

The blanket of DOOOM

So, no time to do much lately, because school has been so crazy, but I am about to get to the season where I spend every free moment crafting it up. Drew is going to be so glad when the 1st of the year comes around. I can't talk about everything that I am wanting to do, because a lot of it is for my devoted readers, ha!

So, I have been working on this blanket for Gloria (friend of the family who is having a baby boy in January) for at least a month now. I was so gung-ho when I started that I think I got a little over my head. This blanket is going to be hu

ge, and so heavy that the kid won't be able to carry it until he is 15. But it is going to be gorgeous. Here are the colors:

Ok, wow, they look really crappy on the computer... but I promise, it looks awesome together. I am crocheting just with simple double crochet stitches with both yarns held together, and then when it is finished, I plan to add a yellow border... or maybe orange depending if I can find the right yellow...

Pictures when I finish (which, hopefully will be this week sometime!)

Sunday

Well, I haven't had much time to craft lately, but I have been drawing a lot lately. Trying to get a bit more practice so that I can be a better painter, and a better teacher. I have been so tired lately, and following a pattern is very difficult when you have had a hard day, haha. So, that means crochet and sewing have been out. I did, however, get two new books that look like they are going to be awesome helps for the above mentioned crafts.



I highly recommend both books. The Last minute fabric gift book is great... it has projects designed for all levels of dedication and knowledge. Several of which I hope to try in the near future. I just need to start planning before I head for the fabric store.

I'll see if I can post some of my drawings... dont know how well a picture of them will turn out, and I do not have a scanner.

Weekend Projects

I have been busy this weekend! Yesterday, Drew had to work. I felt sorry for him, but I had a lot to do anyway, so, it worked out ok. He was bored all day, poor thing! Yesterday morning, I got up and went to help Jerri on her new house. Here are a few photos of the progress:



That grey object that Joe is pointing the tape measure towards is a dead rat... I told Jerri it deserved to be in the scrap book as one of the nasty things she has encountered on her home journey. So, here it is. I don't scrapbook!

Here are a couple of the crafty projects I have finished this weekend:

With that awesome fabric I bought at Make, I made a wrap skirt. The photo does not do it justice!
It is about knee length, and it is pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

I also finished the awesome curtains I was planning, however, they ended up a bit too short for the bedroom, so, they ended up in the dining room instead. They are awesome though, and I love them. This just gives me an excuse to go buy more fabric for the bedroom curtains. For now, I'll stick with the tapestry I bought at Urban Outfitters a long time ago. Here are the curtains:
ps. Do not pay attention to the room... it's a bit messy.


Well, that's all for my craftiness tonight. Hope everyone is doing well!

Awesome new fabric

So, I have gone on a fabric binge lately and found some really amazing stuff. At JoAnn's this weekend, all of their home decorating fabric was 50% off, so, I bought some fabric to make some real curtains for the bedroom... a grown up bedroom... who would ever think!!

Tonight, I went to First Thursday in Bishop Art's District. They have all of their galleries open and free admission, and all of the shops offer special discounts. Make (a store in BA's that sells hand crafted wearables and offers classes in sewing, etc) had a 10% discount tonight and they had a new line of Moda fabric in stock. It all looked amazing, and I need to find a cheaper place to buy it so that I can get lots! Anyway, here is one of my favorite patters that I found tonight:
It is kind of hard to see, but it is a Paint by numbers pattern of birds and flowers. Really pretty in person! She didn't have much of it left, so, she would only sell me one and a half yards of it. I will have to find something really awesome to do with it. Is one and a half yards enough for a skirt?

There were also these really pretty brown, gold, orange and green fabrics that were apparently new by Moda. I love them all and want some of everything! Here is a link to the new fabrics:
http://mordac.unitednotions.com/storefrontB2CWEB/browse.do?action=refresh_
browse&ctg_id=42598

Examples:

Pillow

While last in Missouri, I was flipping through one of Diane's magazines and found a really cool idea for a pillow that went across the entire bed and had a pretty vine and a bird stitched on the top. I modified this idea and made it a "Marcie Original" and here is what I came up with:


I know it is a little lumpy, but it isnt quite finished yet. Actually, this leads me to a really hillarious story. I hand stitched all of the wool felt leaves and vines onto the top. It took forever, and when I finished, I was so excited to start stuffing. I went to Walmart and bought some Polyfil. Come to find out, a 1 and a quarter pound bag is $3.50 and a 10 pound box is only $14, so, I opted for the larger amount because I figured I would need quite a bit. I got home, sewed the edges together and started stuffing. I tried very hard to do it like I have seen Diane do in the past... stuff the corners, stuff evenly and fill up to the top... however, I kept stuffing and stuffing and stuffing and it seemed as though I could not get past 1/4 of the pillow! I showed Drew and he said... "I don't know sweetie, I guess you should just keep stuffing." He said something about what he had seen his mom do in the past, so, of course I then thought he was an expert on pillow stuffing, so, I kept going. My arm was getting SO tired by this point, so, I decided to give up for the night. Of course, in my artistic ADD, I got busy and left it alone for a few days while I did other things. Then a couple days ago, my friend Becca was over, and we were in a crafty mood, so, I pulled the pillow out to ask for her advice. She suggested that we pull out all the stuffing and start over. I pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and soon, my entire "second bedroom studio" was flooded with Polyfil! There was about 1000 pounds of it in that one quarter of a pillow. I figured out that I had left one key step out of the whole stuffing process... you have to fluff the stuffing before you actually stuff the pillow! So, I had all these little clumps of stuffing that we fluffed and stuffed, and the amount of stuffing I fit into that quarter of a pillow eventually filled the entire pillow as you see it in that photo! Whew, I was laughing so hard by the end of that I could barely stuff! Needless to say, i should buy a book entitled "Pillow Stuffing for Dummies". I seriously wish I had a photo of the entire room filled with Polyfil!

Finished Classroom

Ahh... the classroom. It looks so much better without students! I know, I know... I'm horrible. Here are some photos of the classroom sans students!

A couple finished things...

I still don't have a photo of the aprons I made... I took them to school without thinking about it. I do have a photo of the poncho, though. I wore it to the movies on Friday night and felt VERY cute, haha.
Also, with my new sewing machine I made a baby blanket for the principal at my school. His wife is having a baby soon, and we are throwing them a baby shower this week. I went to JoAnn's and discovered that they have a 15% teacher discount! Woohoo! I am getting better at this whole sewing thing - notice that the edges are actually straight, haha!

More photos of my classroom coming soon, as well as some other sewing projects and MAYBE a finished painting. Oh man... I am so artistically ADD

Home Sweet Home

Whew... tons of stuff has happened in the past week and a half! Drew and I went to Missouri for a week to visit his family. It was so much fun! I always enjoy getting to spend time with his mom and dad (and brother and grandparents!), but this trip was exceptionally nice. Drew's mom (Diane) and I got to spend a lot of time antiquing and shopping, and she helped me find a nice sewing machine for cheap! So, now I have yet another hobby! I have already made a couple of aprons, but havent taken any photos yet. I finished the poncho I have been working on forever (I will also post pictures of that as soon as I take some). We got to take our kitty with us to Missouri with the help of some kitty sleeping pills. That was quite an experience. A 9 hour drive with a kitten who does not like cars...

As for this entry, I have a couple of photos of our kayaking trip on the Current River in Missouri. More later.

Art Room Update

With 3 more weeks left until school starts, and one of those weeks being a vacation week, I have a LOT more left to do in my classroom. I worked for a couple hours today, and got quite a bit done. Here are some photos of the paint job, clean floors, and a desk!

Bunny Slippers!

I just finished a pattern out of Happy Hooker for bunny slippers... with a few modifications. They are quick to make, and I think will make a wonderful Christmas present!!

New blog...

Ok, this whole online diary thing is interesting to me... I haven't done something like this since my days of livejournal... way back in the day. I am starting this blog to have a place to display photos of my creations. I paint, sculpt, design jewelry, and do a lot of crocheting. I have been on a role lately, and I have no way to show all my friends and family what I have been doing! Hope you all enjoy!



One of the "crafty" things I have been doing lately is decorating my high school art class room. I am going to post a few "before" pictures in this entry.