Finished Projects and the Surprise!

Nothing too much to blog about today. I finished the baby blanket completely. Nothing too special.

I also started and completed the wall hang that my friend wanted me to make her. Here are the pictures I took of the process. :)

Here I took a full sheet of canvas and put the words on, not knowing just how much I would end up needing - a lot less than I thought, that's for sure!

Here it is, all cut out and the start of the background - she preferred the look of the long stitch to the single one. I agree, it looks much nicer!

And now, just a couple of fill in pictures.

I love how it slowly comes together and with each row the letters really pop out! She decided to go with the colours I used on my bookmark for the font and background. However, the border she chose, I didn't think would look too good, boy was I wrong.

A nice dark green. I decided to make a hang thread for this. I started by crocheting a chain, leaving long tails at both ends, and then just bordering the tails on to the canvas. It was pretty simple. :)

A close up of the chain attached.

And now, the finished product! So, you're probably wondering why it's hanging from two thumb tacks instead of one. Well, I didn't think it through - do I ever, though? - and the canvas I used was the flimsier stuff, so when I tried to hang it from the center of the string, it just kind of bent and drooped. My bad. I know better for next time, at least!!

And now, for the exciting news!! I am finally going to enter a contest on DeviantArt! I've been following the group Amigurumi-Challenge - http://amigurumi-challenge.deviantart.com/ - for a while now. They've had a few themes that I wouldn't have minded trying, but I didn't feel confident enough in my skills. This month is Woodland Creatures.

I asked if they would allow things like Pokemon and such, they agreed. At this point, I had so many ideas going through my head. This ball of yarn is why.

It was all the store had at the time, and I have been really wanting to do that project I was talking about with the brown fuzzy yarn - which is now on hold - and I figured, might as well just get the giant ball, as it's the only yarn I've seen - out of four shops! - that have the colour closest to what I need! Needless to say, the idea I had for the amigurumi challenge is brown - this shade of brown. With a ball this big, I'll have more than enough to do the challenge and the other project I have in mind. :)

I have until the end of the month to complete the project for the Amigurumi Challenge, which should be more than enough time. I'm hoping it only takes me about a week to completely. I know, I'm being optimistic. It'll probably take closer to two weeks.

So, until this is finished, I'm not sure I'll be blogging too much. However, I think I might do little teasers on my DeviantArt - http://wykked-as-syn.deviantart.com/ - as my work progresses. And maybe a blog or two in between. :)

Ta ta for now!

Slow and Steady

Hey all! I know, I've been inactive this last week. But, that's because we finally moved! I love our new place, but we're still getting settled. In the mean time, I have been working on my plastic canvas project. And I've been taking lots of pictures of the process. But first, a picture of the near complete one!

I really love how it's turning out so far! Though, it has been a long process!!

I had to make a total of 34 of these little guys. I really like the pattern I decided to use, it goes well with the rest of it.

This was a tricky little bigger to work with, especially sewing it on, but I managed successfully! And I only had to make two, which was good.

In hindsight, making all the stairs as one and then connecting them to the side panel was a baaad idea. And I learned from my mistake.

It was not fun trying to see the other side panel on to this, as it liked to move as though it were an accordion! You can imagine the frustration of this. Like I said, it was a bad idea.

And here we are with the back panel on, but it a still not complete! I didn't have any more canvas left at this point, so I started on the second set of stairs, which I tackled in a completely different way!!

I decided it would be a smarter idea to attach the two side panels to the stairs at the same time, doing the top stairs and bottom indent - which was the hardest part on the first stairs - first. and let me tell you, it has been much easier to work with.

I am hoping to finish these by the end of the week - hopefully sooner! But, I have a lot of appointments coming up in the next couple of weeks, all for the baby's sake. :)

However, I finally bought more canvas do that I can work on this whenever I have the time! Sadly, the craft store didn't have the sturdier canvas I prefer to use, but the stuff I bought will do the same thing - I just don't like the feel of working with it, it's so...flimsy.

But, good news! When this project is complete, I have a couple more lined up.

Yesterday, I went out for lunch with a close friend of mine, and then we went to the mall. And during our mall trip, my friend bought me these!!

Aren't they awesome?! I have a bunch of yarn like this that my grandmother gave me - I call her Nanny, Nan for short, and is how I shall henceforth refer to her as, I just wanted to let you all know that Nan is my grandmother.  Papa is my grandfather. Anyway, my Nan gave me a bunch of yarn like this, but only pinks, whites and a ...maroon colour, I think it is. I think once I'm settled in my new place, I'm going to take picture of my yarn stash, as tiny and insufficient as it is!

Also, more good news! While I was at the craft store today, I found more of this stuff!

This is the yarn that I used to make the Ruffle Scarf! I just couldn't resist buying more of it. I had so much fun making the last one, that I just had to make them in all the colours the store had in stock - I'm tempted to go back and get one more of each colour. 

And yes, I will be selling these once I've made them - I think $15 is a fair price. :) If anyone is interested, please feel free to let me know. :)

And I think that is all I have to blog about for today. 

Wow I just realised, this is probably my longest post yet! I chalk it up to being inactive for a week. Hopefully you'll hear from me again in a few days!! 

From the Middle Baby Blanket!

So, it took me a bit longer to finish the baby blanket than I thought it would. I blame the fact that I had to run around the city looking for a third ball of the yarn I was using. At the end of the second ball, it only measured 15 inches from the middle.

However, I lucked out and the only place left to look carried it - the last ball, to boot! 

So, finishing off the last couple of rows took up most of yesterday - it's a lot more time consuming than it looks! But, I managed to do it.

As you can see, it's huge - it ended up measuring just over 20 inches from the centre. I was thinking of finishing it off with a row of white trimming, but I'm not too sure. I do have the yarn to do so, though! So, feedback on that idea would be greatly appreciated!

As you can also see, I'm wearing my awesome Ariel and Prince Eric leggings - I love Disney so much, classic Disney, I should say.

Anyway, just ignore the mess in the background, as you all know, I am in the middle of packing and whatnot. Also, my cool scarf collection in still just hanging around, if anyone is interested. =D

But, I think that's all I have to post for today, nothing exciting going on and no new projects underway. Just the ones I've been procrastinating on. That pot holder just relaly hurts my thumb area after about a row or two, so I've been slowly working on that. And knitting a few rows of the scarf whenever I have the urge - which isn't as often as it should be!

Hopefully I'll have something else to post before the end of the week, which is when I move. Until then, take care!

Piggy Bank Progress

Today I spent the day working diligently on my piggy bank. And it paid off, mostly.

First, I would just like to show off how neatly this panel turned out.

I think it's made all the better by the fact that I wasn't paying too much attention to what I was doing - I was kind of focusing on a horribly great documentary on Bigfoot. I really love watching/listening to documentaries of mostly any kind.

Anyway, I managed to get the bottom of the piggy bank together, having spent most of the day getting to this point.

When I finally finished the box, I realised that I needed to devise a way to keep it closed - I really didn't think this project through before starting it, but it's worth it. I decided Velcro would be a good idea. I managed to find something around the house that I wasn't using that had Velcro on it I could salvage, I didn't need much.

You can see here where I attached the Velcro to the little white squares. On top of sewing them on, I ensured they stayed securely in place by adding a bit of crafting glue I had kicking around underneath. 

I crocheted these little guys to attach to the top, they were quick work. Again, I sewed and glued on the Velcro pieces for added security before I attached it to the top piece.

Now, all I have left to do is line the top panel, I've been procrastinating on that because I'm a bit nervous about trying to cut out the coin slot in the material and, sadly, I don't have anything in the place that would rub off on the fabric as a guide. :(

From there, all I have to do is touch up the plastic canvas edges and attach it to the rest of the box, then I'll be finished! I'm so excited, I think it's going to be awesome when it's finished. 

Anyway, it's very late and I'm about ready to go to bed. I decided to write out this blog tonight because I know myself well enough that I'll end up lying awake thinking about posting until I actual do it, might as well skip a step and make everything easier for me.

Hopefully I will finish the top tomorrow and won't procrastinate. Then, I can get back to working on my friends scarf, I've finally stopped being upset over my major mess up.

Anyway, good night, everyone. :)