Sunday, June 28, 2009

Oil


My old 1952 sewing machine booklet tells me to oil my machine after 10-12 hours of use! Just like oil in my car and the life of my disposable contact lenses, I stretch things a bit. I finally oiled my machine this weekend and that little baby purrs! A new needle, a little motor lube and she is good to go for 4 or 5 more yoga mat bags, or 2500 miles or something like that. I promise I will oil you more, baby.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

It IS Done

Yeah! I finished the Archaeopteryx stool. It was good painting practice and a fun project. Anyone want to bid on it? Come to the Museum's Prehistoric Ball on October 24th!














I also managed to make a nice pillow cover in a brown home decor velvety fabric I got on sale some time ago. I used an old vintage button that Cerise found at a thrift store. I stuffed a big 27" x 27" pillow form in the cover (another sale item from JoAnn's) and presented it as a father's day gift to my husband.
Now it is time to get sewing some new projects and new yoga mat bags!
Theresa, OmMama


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Petrified

I work at a museum, which means we are always fundraising. This year is the Museum's 20th anniversary so we are having a first ever Prehistoric Ball. We are auctioning off stools, made with legs from the original display cases. Since I aspire to be artistic, I am offered to decorate one of the stools. I was petrified (no pun intended) to begin for two reasons. As a museum staff person, I felt there was more pressure for the stool to look good so that it actually got a decent bid. Second, the first artist, a tiler named Laurel Skye, brought back a gorgeous tiled stool with a lovely koi. Every speck of the stool is covered in tile. Mind you, they are little stools. I was kind of expecting I might paint beetles (about the only thing I paint lately) but as it was expected I really wanted to do something else.

Finally I struck upon the idea of something petrified. The legs are turritella (a fossilized sea shell compilation) and the top will be an Archaeopteryx when it is finished. Of course this is keeping me from sewing and writing about fabrics. essentially I am discovering that each project is helping to procrastinate on another. I will post the finished product when it is done and perhaps someone will pay big bucks to help "save the museum!"
Theresa, OmMama

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Sock Mates

I have this wonderful twisted grey alpaca/merino wool blend yarn that I got at my LYS (local yarn shop) a while back and I finally decided to try it out last Wednesday while listening to Dale's band at a bar in Clairemont Mesa. Though I have two unfinished sweaters to finalize, some knee socks for Dale that are taking a while, and a Christmas present sock mate I need to re-knit for Mom since USPS likes to make packages disappear, I felt it was time to start another pair of socks. I used my classic go-to sock pattern from Knitting for Dummies and started in on the first sock. I fell in love with the yarn as soon as I started. I have been knitting with synthetics that split and don't feel that nice running through my hand so this was a delicious change in texture and quality. It was quit fun to sit and knit in the bar while listening to horrible open mic music before the headliner, a.k.a. Dale's band. I even started a little craft corner with a kindergarten teacher there to see the band. I stopped when it was heel flap time and when picked up the knitting the next day I decided to use my upcycled orange wool J. Crew sweater yarn for the heel and toe so I could get two socks out of one skein. After the first sock was done, Dale decided he really liked it and since I have two skeins of my wonderful Ecolana yarn we thought we might need to have matching pairs of warm, stylish socks. I finished sock two of four tonight. Sock one is on my foot, sock two is on Dale's foot.

I am a third of the way done with sock three. I love how quickly the yarn knits up. I found some of the same yarn on sale for $5 at my LYS today (along with some mustard and neptune Louet Merino Gems sock yarn) and I'm tempted to get the rest of what they have in the beautiful grey and white color. Until next time,
Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )