buzzville

The Holidays are Coming!

Thanks to all of you who sent an email or left a message wishing my grandfather well. He is hanging in there, and the family is exploring different options, including a part-time nurse to come in and help him bathe, get dressed, etc.

We leave for a Thanksgiving celebration in Los Cabos, Mexico tomorrow, and I hope everyone celebrating has a wonderful feast day! We'll be gone for a week with no computer access, so I'll report in with pictures when we get back!

Last Sunday we took Brynne to her first Dan Zanes and Friends concert at UCLA. Along with They Might be Giants and Ralph's World, Dan Zanes is one of Brynne's favorites for kids' music, and seeing the concert on Sunday cemented him in the #1 position for now. For those of you who might not be familiar with his music, it is refreshingly fun and clever, from dance hall to traditional to Latin American to original pieces. It's so great to get away from the Wiggles and other, overly simplistic music for children. I highly recommend House Party (cd) and/or All Around the Kitchen! (dvd) as fantastic introductions to the band.

As for crafting, I've been so busy that I haven't gotten much done. I'm taking some stuff with me on vacation, so hopefully I'll have something to show then. In the meantime, I'll share some things you may not have heard about yet.

Here's a fantastic Flickr photostream of children's book illustrations - all pure genius!

Have you all seen the knitted wedding yet?!? Too crazy!

The nice folks at Broken China Jewelry will make custom jewelry for you from your own broken china, or from pieces in their own collection. My quilting teacher had a gorgeous brooch of theirs featuring a beautiful little bird on a branch. Seems like a great gift idea for someone who has a broken piece but can't bear to just throw it away...

I've been thinking about venturing into the "printing on fabric" realm, and I found this great resource for anyone interested in experimenting with Bubble Jet Set. Tons of information there from someone who definitely knows what she's doing!

I've been a bad blogger...

... and have hardly posted this week. My sincere apologies. There has been a lot going on, and not all of it is good. First off, thanks to everyone for the well wishes for my kitty. The surgery seems to have gone fine, and her stitches look great. They removed a tumor caused by some extremely toxic bacteria that was attacking the fatty tissue just under the skin. Apparently this nasty bacteria can quickly get to the heart and kill little kitties. So, for once I didn't overreact in getting her to the vet immediately! My only worry is that she's gotten really sniffly in the past two days, with lots of sneezing. I'm hoping that she doesn't have another (sinus?) infection or kitty pneumonia or something like that...

In other unpleasant news, my mom called me yesterday to tell me that my grandfather (who will be 86 in December) is not doing well. He's had chronic back pain from an old WWII injury for quite some time, but it's apparently gotten much worse this past week. He's no longer able to get in and out of bed very easily and is not showing any interest in eating. This has hit me like a ton of bricks... I'm the only grandchild (Brynne the only great-grandchild), and I have a very close and special relationship with my grandparents. Of course I'm aware of the inevitability of death, but hearing this news of his worsening condition has been very tough. Making me even more nervous is that we're supposed to leave on Thursday (US Thanksgiving Day) for a weeklong vacation in Mexico with Jerry's family. We've been looking forward to this trip for a long time, but I *really* don't want to be in Mexico and get a call to tell me that my grandfather has passed away. My mom seems to think that nothing is that imminent, but I'm a bit apprehensive all the same.

So, the stress of a sick kitty and grandfather, getting ready for a trip to Mexico, and an incredibly huge workload is really getting me down. I'm trying to remain positive, and I had a great chat with my grandparents yesterday. Brynne has been pretty good this week, all things considered, and that helps a *lot*! Being so busy, I haven't been able to do the things that really keep my spirits up - like blogging and reading about what all of you are up to. Don't be surprised if you catch me commenting on something you wrote a week ago - I've gotten really behind!

On a positive note (and so that I can post a pic!), I had the first session of my knitting class this morning. We learned to cast-on, the knit stitch, and binding off. It may not be pretty, but look:

I'm knitting! I'm really looking forward to practicing a bit before our next class on 12/3, and hopefully I won't forget everything I learned this morning! The instructor is great, and I'm afraid this might just become the next addiction! Does anyone have any recommendations for beginner books/patterns that are fun? I know I'm probably just stuck with scarves for the moment, but I'd love any suggestions for a place to start!

My little kitten...

The weekend was a whirlwind in San Diego. We had a great time visiting with Jerry's brother and sister-in-law, but I didn't get a chance for any crafty stops - not even the Mitsuwa! Has anyone else noticed how it can be really challenging to schedule activities with those who don't have kids? They were planning dinners at 7pm for us (7pm is Brynne's bedtime), and they were excruciatingly late for everything. We planned on meeting for breakfast at 9am Sunday morning. Given that we're usually awake by 6am, we figured we'd have a little snack to tide us over until 9. Well, they didn't show until 9:45, then took us to a restaurant that was about 35 minutes away, and then we waited for about an hour to get a table. I don't think we were actually eating "breakfast" until about 11:45. And of course, all the while we're trying to entertain Brynne and keep her from having a meltdown since she'd been waiting for the promised pancake breakfast for almost 3 hours! Don't get me wrong - I love Jerry's family and we always have a great time together - but I wish they realized how important a schedule can be to a little tyke!

We came home to find one of our kitties suddenly very sick. She had a lump on her chest and was hardly moving - obviously in a great deal of pain. I took her to the vet to get checked out. Initially the vet thought it was an abcess (easy to take care of), but upon checking it out more closely discovered it was a "solid mass" of some kind. He operated that same day and kept her overnight. They're doing a biopsy on the tumor to see if they can find out what it was. I brought home my little baby, Issey, and she is so pathetic! She has to wear one of those cones to keep her from licking or biting her wound, she has a row of big, metal staples holding the sutures, and they shaved most of her chest and one paw where the IV was located. Look at this poor little thing!

The good news is that Issey is happy to be home, and we're being sure to give her lots of extra snuggles and scratches. Aside from the results of the biopsy, my biggest concern is making sure that Brynne is careful and gentle with Issey... She has the tendency to be pretty rough with our cats, and Issey may not be able to escape Brynne's clutches quite as easily at the moment!

San Deigo, here we come!

We're headed out to San Diego this weekend to visit with Jerry's brother and sister-in-law and a day at the Wild Animal Park. Yes, Brynne is going to have the ultimate weekend! Thanks to Barb and her San Diego Craft Resource Guide, I'm all set to take in as much crafty stuff as I can handle (or maybe I should say, as much as Jerry can handle!). I hope everyone has a great weekend.

In the meantime, here's a new discovery to tide you over. Country Swedish has gorgeous fabrics like these:

Fun Mail, No Photos...

Before I say anything else, a heartfelt thanks to all of you who sent such sweet birthday wishes and words of encouragement. It's times like this that I wish I could take each and every one of you out for tea and give you a big hug. The odd thing is that I don't have any friends where I live (I know, violins and all that!), but I feel so wealthy in friends from all over the world thanks to this little blog. Thank you all for visiting, for commenting, and for sharing.

Well, I was going to post a bunch of pictures of the fantastic stuff that's been arriving in my mailbox the past few days, but it's darker than Darth Vader around here, so no pics. But, rather than delay the serious kudos for these crafty chicas, I will surreptitiously post *their* photos (hope you guys don't mind!) so that I may share my amazement.

Of course, everyone outside of Gitmo Bay has already heard about (and purchased!) Jess' incredible book, but here it is nonetheless! This should provide even more incentive for me to learn how to knit. And, I'm pleased as punch to announce that I begin my first knitting class on 11/19! I'll share my struggles and pathetic knitting just as soon as I have some!

 

Another crafty goddess sent goodness my way - Hillary's Patchwork Set Postcards arrived yesterday! The photos are incredible, the dolls super cute, and even the back of the postcard has wee flair! I've got to find out more about these printers that you talented ladies are using - not that I have anything to print - but a girl can dream, can't she?!?

As if this weren't enough, I was fast enough to snatch up the incredibly adorable and felted Oliver from Karen's Etsy Shop before anyone else had a chance to lay eyes on him! His needle felted goodness is so soft, and his little eyes have so much personality! He'll be joining some other handcrafted friends in a little display area I've set up - remind me to share a picture one of these days!

Hmmmm, do you all think that the Christmas shopping bug has struck at chez buzzville already? I wonder...

Another year...

Yesterday I celebrated my 33rd birthday (how can I be 33?!?), and it's a little bit scary to see how quickly the years are passing - especially those since Brynne was born. My goal for the weekend was to finally get all of my crafting supplies together and organized in a large storage unit in the garage. It might not sound like a glamorous way to spend my birthday, but I was so tired of searching throughout the house for a particular fabric, notion, or crafting tool. I knew that I would reap the rewards of organizing the garage for a long time. Not having an official crafting space is definitely getting me down, but I'm hoping that having all the supplies localized will help somewhat. I'll still have to use the kitchen or living room for actual crafting, but at least I'll know where to find everything (or at least that's the theory!).

I wasn't able to finish everything over the weekend... it's a really big job and we also decided to try to potty train Brynne this weekend (another *big* job that isn't quite finished!). I'll post some pics of the "crafting wall" once I've got everything squared away. Jerry was an angel and handled Brynne for most of the 2 days, took me to an incredible Mexican brunch on Sunday, and gave me this gorgeous Tord Boontje light fixture - it's like a piece of jewelry for the house!

I'm hoping that this year will be the one in which I can figure out what the heck I'm doing with my life. I'm so tired of being stuck in a dead-end, unfulfilling job, but the flexibility of working from home - so that I can be with Brynne - is really hard to find elsewhere. Ah, the compromises of parenthood! That's why I'm so thrilled to have this little blog that has given me a creative outlet and has introduced me to all of you - incredible, generous, and talented women - whom I admire so much.

Back Tack Reveal!

Although Alison's back-tack package is not yet in her hands (it's waiting for her at the post office), I figured I shouldn't wait too long without posting what I made. I'll share the things I made for her, but I'll keep the treats a surprise so that there's a bit of mystery remaining! As I mentioned in the sneak peek post, Alison suggested we do things a bit differently - she asked that I put together materials for her to create craft bags for both Max (her monster) and Brynne (my monster) that might incorporate some of their artwork in some way. I couldn't stand by and have her do all the work, so I made some coordinating pieces that will hopefully work in concert with the craft bag idea.

If you didn't figure it out from the sneak peek, the theme (which I went a little nuts with!) was robots. I already knew that Max was into cars and trucks and stuff like that, so I hoped that he might also like robots. And, I really did like the parallels between the creative process and robots in general... after all, can't anyone patch together a robot from a colander, some coffee cans, tinfoil, and some wire?!?

(*huge* apologies for the lighting/color in these photos - we had nothing but dreary, dark days when I was taking these...) These are the sewn items: a smock for Max to wear while creating, a zipper pouch to hold crayons, and a mini-quilt to wrap around other crafty goodness. My overall concept was to make items that looked as if they might have been made by a child - embracing the hand-made look and not going for the perfection of manufactured pieces (yeah, that takes the pressure off!). Here are some details:

The smock is a very simple pattern I found in this Japanese craft book. The book included full-size patterns that I traced onto tracing paper and went from there. It was very simple to do, and I designed it so that it should fit Max for a while as he grows. Basic elastic at the neck and wrists makes it easy to pull on and off, and I added Winky & Dutch decorative robot buttons on the patch pockets.

Here is the outside of the mini quilt. The idea behind this was a cute little reversible patchwork square with ties from this Japanese craft book. I decided to make it into a mini quilt just for fun. The ties are the same fabric as the binding, and I used free-motion quilting in a funky asterisk design taken from the fabric. Here is a close-up showing the quilting (I used the same silver metallic thread from my Halloween quilt):

and here is the opposite side:

I used some great orange wool felt and cut out a gear shape, then free-motion stitched the word "Create" in the center. I used the same orange felt as little rounds at the end of each tie.

Here is the little zipper pouch made using Thimble's outstanding tutorial.

Again, I used wool felt and cut a freehand wrench, and then free-motion stitched the word "Crayons" before I appliqued it to the front piece of the pouch.

Lastly, I bought a little metal lunch box and made a custom sticker (using a scan of the robot fabric) for Max:

As Alison will soon see, this little box is crammed full of craft supplies, suitable for a creative toddler!

As for the bag supplies, I sent coordinating fabrics that Alison can use (if she's not already overwhelmed by all these robots!) if she'd like, or she can go with something else alltogether. Goodies and treats are also inside, for Alison and Max alike. Here's hoping they both love it!

Back-Tack is here!

Whew! The insanity of Halloween was so beautifully offset by an incredible package I received last night from Beki! My back-tack is here, and it is so perfect! Beki took my not so subtle hints and provided me with everything I need to get started knitting!

First, there's a knitting bag - do you see that fantastic shape?!? The outer fabric is a print of gorgeous allium blooms in rich, warm hues that are so perfect for this time of year! Beki made an ingenious open handle, with the lining fabric peeking through. Then there is a needle roll with a rich Japanese inspired floral fabric in greens, the allium fabric, and a maroon fabric with tiny gold metallic accents. This color pallette is incredible! The icing on the cake is a small little bag (Beki - it's perfect for Brynne!) made of a Japanese fabric with adorable little owls! This bag came filled to the brim with fun Mardi Gras beads that are currently spread throughout the house! Here's a close-up so that you can really appreciate these incredible fabrics:

Then there are the goodies! You already saw the 3 pairs of needles in the needle case, but look at everything else:

The loot includes some fantastic vintage knitting books, vintage buttons, handmade cards made by Beki (!), 2 hanks of Artyarns Supermerino, and a ball of Karabella Barbados! What I find really incredible about all of this is that everything is perfectly color coordinated - all of the fabrics, the yarns, and even her cards! Did I already say how much I love the pallette?!? It's so soothing, warm, and cozy... nothing sounds better than snuggling up and attempting a simple scarf to get me started!

Beki - thank you so much for really learning about me and my silly obsessions! I can't believe you ordered fabric from Japan! It's the perfect package and I feel so spoiled!

And, to Alison and Nicole, thanks once again for a fantastic and creative swap! I'll keep joining in as long as you're willing and able to have me!