52 Craft Projects // owl

I have an owl (partly visible in this picture) sitting in my chair that seems to attract visitors; whenever my friend A. is over she picks up my owl and won't let go off her until she has to leave. She mentioned about 2691 times that she'd love to have an owl like that.

Her 21st birthday was a great opportunity to make one for her. I used some red flannel from my mom's stash for the main body, an old shirt for the belly (I had a really hard time cutting it up; if it was 12 sizes smaller I would've worn it instead of cutting it into pieces!) and some Ikea fabrics scraps for the eyes and nose. I recycled the filling from an old pillow (which was a BIG mess; I still find the stuffing EVERYWHERE in my apartment. Literally. Even in my fridge!?!!) so it's a pretty 'green' gift :)

I love how chubby she(I decided she's female.) looks. I've had a pretty hard time giving her away after having her sit in my shelf, watching me study for hours and hours, every day for two weeks. But I know that she's in a warm and cozy home now where she gets lots of attention. And my owl probably would've been jealous if I had kept her. My chair is only big enough for one owl so unless I kick out my roomie and put a gigantic couch into his room I won't adopt another owl, no matter how cute and chubby she is.


This is project #7 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013.
You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

around here

Life is good. Classes are over but I still have finals every 2-3 weeks. But since I'm known for my procrastination skills I have lots of time for some fun stuff. Like baking and taking pretty food pictures. Have you watched Parks & Rec lately? I loved Ben's explanation of a 'foodie'!

Among many other things, I baked golden toast (SO good. Seriously. I'm never gonna buy toast again. Ever.), cinnamon buns and apple crumble (it was gone so fast I couldn't take a picture). I can't wait for spring - don't get me wrong, I love winter but the lack of sunshine in the past months is seriously influencing my mood. I've been trying to surround myself with colorful fabrics and yarn which seems to help a little but I wouldn't mind spending a couple days somewhere sunny and warm.

My sewing machine was pretty busy lately (isn't the wrist pincushion my mom gave me for Christmas adorable?) - I made a couple of gifts and some small bits and pieces. The owl pillow deserves a whole blog post. Sadly, my beloved sewing machine decided she doesn't like thick seams and stopped working properly. She'll be picked up today and sent halfway around the country where hopefully she'll get fixed quickly. I guess I'll be back to knitting and spinning for the next couple of weeks before I get her back.

I finally got back into reading! I went through three novels in the past two weeks. I'm thinking about doing a book report every 2-3 months... what do you think?

Last but not least, a cute picture of Lina because how could an 'around here' blog post not include at least one picture of a cat?

52 Craft Projects // Star Crossed Slouchy Beret

Pattern: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson 
Yarn Used: Malabrigo Merino Worsted (~60g of the color 'Bobby Blue')
Needles: 7mm circulars
Modifications: none

ravelry project page: here

Thoughts:
Quick and easy project - I didn't find the needles the pattern called for so I went down a size - still fits great. The hat is a gift for a friend in Vancouver - I'm sure she'll love it :)
This is project #6 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013.
You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

52 Craft Projects // Rainy Day Mug Rugs

So as most of you probably know, it rains quite a lot in Vancouver. When I first saw these coasters in one of my mom's sewing books I thought 'Oh, cute!' and flipped to the next page. Fast forward about half a year and I see the design and think 'VANCOUVER!!! <3'. Since I miss Vancouver quite a lot and one of my best friends from Vancouver graduates from UBC this summer there were more than enough reasons to make one of these. Or maybe 2 or 3...

The design is from Christie Fowler and was published in the 'Zakka Style' book. I modified it somewhat by machine stitching instead of stitching by hand. I definitely have to improve my free motion quilting skills - a lot! But I love how these turned out anyways and I'm sure my two best friends in Vancouver will love them, too! :)



This is project #5 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013.
You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

52 Craft Projects // Eagle Twist

Pattern: Eagle Twist by Dennis Marquez (not published yet) 
Yarn Used: Malabrigo Sock ( less than one skein of 'impressionist sky' and less than one skein of 'lettuce')
Needles: 4mm circulars
Modifications: see ravelry project page

Thoughts:
It's not a secret that I love stripes. I was lucky to get to test knit Dennis Marquez' first design. It's a really enjoyable knit because the pattern is easy to memorize and seeing the stripes getting longer and longer is a great motivation to keep knitting :)
Dennis didn't publish the pattern yet but I'll let you know as soon as he does. I can't wait to see what color combinations other knitters come up with!



This is project #4 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013.
You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

the good, the bad, and the in-between

Days are good. Days are bad. Sometimes there are moments when you don't know whether to laugh or to cry. My advice? Do both.

hang in there...

... I'll be back in a couple of days. For now, Lina will keep you company. She seems to love my mom's Varier Move ergonomic stool (although she doesn't quite grasp the concept of moving while resting yet... but it seems to be a comfy place to sleep.)