First, I finished the big project I've been working on in complete secret for the last few months, and which turns up as "N's present" on my list of things to do. She said she wanted one, so I made her one!:
I designed and stitched it myself. The lower-case alphabet comes from a website, and the traditional uppercase font from a picture of a 19th-century sampler in my Australian Colonial Crafts book (the exact name escapes me right now, but I love flicking through it every now and then). The frame is a semi-crappy one I bought from K-mart. I would have preferred a vintage one, but I didn't have time to trawl through the op shops and possibly not find anything. I framed it with a proper matt board so the stitches don't touch the glass, and sealed it with cloth tape in a matching colour on the back. (Thanks to Boy for helping me with that.) It went down quite well at the party, and there were suggestions I make more. I have an idea for another design that's been percolating away. We'll see!
Next, I finished 'bagbag', my carry bag made from plastic supermarket bags that I cut up into ribbons and crocheted:
I'm quite pleased with the result. It seems quite sturdy. It's purpose all along was to carry my lunches and snacks to work and it serves this purpose perfectly! The only concern I have is that it doesn't roll up very small and takes up quite a bit of room in my bag. So a bag made with this technique wouldn't serve very well as a 'just in case' shopping bag that you can keep in your handbag all the time. I just found out about fused plastic the other day. You get about 6 to 8 bags, lay them on top of each other and iron them so that they melt together. Then you can cut them, sew them etc just like fabric. I really want to try this!
I feel so environmentally guilty saying this, but I'm a bit unhappy to hear that plastic bags are being phased out. Where are we crafty recyclers going to get them from??
Then (and by this stage it was Sunday night) I finished the Girls Like Mythbusters Too scarf that I began one night long, long ago when I was watching Mythbusters. Thanks to Ravelry, I can tell you it was on the 3rd of March. (Oh when, oh when are they going to get out of Beta mode so I can link directly to my own profile??) Anyhoo, here it is:
I made up the pattern myself. It's based on a scarf I saw a girl wearing on the tram about 2 years ago. Sometimes these things take time to come to me. It just took a piece of cardboard and a bit of patience, and voila!.
Then (or it might have been earlier) I finished a page in my art journal that I started last week:
Yes, it's a Sea Pony. I just decided to do something crazy and naive and compulsive. Sure, it took me a while to actually finish it, but it's all good. The body is a little bigger and the tail more squished up than I planned, but I like him! I liked working with acrylics as well, which I haven't really done before. I can see some similar figures on canvas boards, once I get a bit better with the proportions and details. If I had kids, I'd hang one in their room.
I also made a rustic scone to have with some soup Boy and I made:
I call it a Rustic scone, but that really means I couldn't be bothered cutting out shapes, so I just dump it on a tray, pat it down a bit, and score some lines on it so it's easier to break apart when it's cooked. This one was really yummy!
Oh yeah, you might have noticed that I didn't write the zine or the knitting pattern this weekend. That was because both involved using the computer, and whenever I went even vaguely near it, I ended up compulsively playing a computer game that Boy downloaded. It was one of those really simple yet addictive kids' games where you just have to help the girl find her parents by planting plants and bopping monsters with a spade. It's the most important thing in the world right at that moment. Anyone who games knows what I'm talking about. I really have to get them done though. I hate deadlines!
In conclusion, even though I didn't get everything done this weekend, I'm really happy with what I did do. I dream of having a whole weekend, or even a single day, dedicated completely to crafting. Maybe one day.... *sighs*.....
