I was unpacking the Xmas supplies and noticed that I never posted the sequin garlands I made last year. I found a big bucket o’ sequins and spangles (that’s the actual name, TM) at the craft store and this was basically an excuse to play with them. Take monofilament, knot the end, and thread on a sequin (I used the big round spangles). Make another knot in the thread at whatever spacing you want the sequins to be. Mine started out at about an inch apart and then quickly drifted further as my fingers started hurting from knotting the monofilament. Last year I taped them up as streamers in my windows, but I think I’ll try them on the tree this time around. They are actually much more sparkly and colorful than my poor photography skills show. You can tell that el Chupacabra likes them.

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I made this quilt for my new niece, who is about T minus 4 months old. We had a surprise baby shower over Thanksgiving. It was a surprise to me too when the invite came in the mail, because I thought I still had 4 months to procrastinate. I’d been planning on making a quilt anyway, but with only a few weeks, I didn’t have time for anything grandiose. I’m quite happy with what I came up with, though. It’s made of 4 inch patches using the leftover fabrics from the tulip quilt. I like laying out quilts. It’s like a great big logic puzzle. I couldn’t find a perfect solution to this one, so there are a few blocks of the same color closer to each other than I’d prefer and parts of it are a bit too ordered. It’s all machine done except the binding, which I had to handsew on the back. That’ll be the last binding I ever hand sew, I can tell you that. I’m getting better at the quilting every time I make one. Most of my block intersections actually line up this time. Next quilt to tackle: one for myself, made from blocks found at my great grandmother’s house.

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I’m a sucker for pretty labels. I usually can’t bear to part with my favorite ones, which is where my scanner and mini-Xyron sticker machine come in handy (example of use: my scintillation vial spice rack). My collection started with some letterpress labels (since discontinued) from Martha. They actually weren’t Martha-made, and I’ve since seen them in several stationary stores. Then I found a whole box of pretty labels at a book store. I also have a Lotta Jansdotter set, which I am in love with. Both are made by Chronicle Books, which I think has the best design taste among any of the big book/stationary purveyors. (Look for their Jill Bliss Native Flowers Journal coming in March.) And if you haven’t seen Jansdotter’s work before, I encourage you to visit her website. She’s awesome. Check out the aprons and textiles in her shop. And finally, since there’s no such thing as too many cool labels, I got yet another box from Iomoi since they’re on sale this week. Iomoi’s stuff is generally pretty cute, so I have high hopes.

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Good Husband got me an iPod for my birthday. I’ve already banged it up a bit carrying it unprotected in my purse. I made it this little sleeve while I come up with something more elaborate. It’s a layer of fabric on top and a layer of eyeglass-cleaning chamois inside, with one layer each of thin interfacing and quilt batting sandwiched between. I made it pretty snug so it doesn’t need a fastener. Now, everytime I slide the iPod in it automatically gets polished. I am clever.

The drawstring bag is a tote for the connector cable and the earbuds. It’s also big enough to carry the iPod and the earbuds if I so desire. One layer fabric, one layer quilt batting.

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Went to K-mart today and found these crochet hooks, which I immediately had to have. I looove them. I only tested them on some yarn at the store, and not a full project yet, but they fit nicely in my hand and they’re really light. Some of the smaller ones seem like I could snap them in half if I tried, though. Red Heart Crystalites brand, sizes G-N and P. Now what to make with them…

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Have you seen the blogs section on Get Crafty? I think I may start double-posting the craftlog there. All the new blog entries go onto one main page, so you can read them all, like an RSS feed. There are a bunch of good ones, too.

Aha! The idea just struck that this is the solution to my comments problem. I am too lazy to delete all the comment spam or install some spam filter solution. Instead I will just let Get Crafty deal with it. So, from now on, if you would like to comment on any of my entries (or view any comments that may exist), just click the crossposted link and it’ll take you to the corresponding entry in my Get Crafty blog.

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I’m usually not so in to memes, but I’ll make an exception for the children’s book pictures one this week. Princeton just recently had a fantastic exhibit of children’s book, including a Salvador Dali Alice in Wonderland, among many other discoveries. Oh, I have so many favorites it’s hard to choose: Tasha Tudor, Quentin Blake, John R. Niell and W.W. Denslow (the Oz book illustrators), Johnny Gruelle (Raggedy Ann and Andy), Arthur Rackham, Jan Brett, Richard Scarry, Beatrix Potter, lots of others. Great websites with lots of illustrations:

Children’s Books Online

Grandma’s Graphics

Storyopolis

Women Children’s Book Illustrators

I scanned in one of of my favorite Oz illustrations (yay for expired copyrights!):

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My library has a few old craft books that–what’s the Ghost World quote?–are so bad they’ve gone past good and are back to bad again. This crochet book I was looking at the other day had a pattern for a pair of life size dolls, among other horrors. I should check the book out and scan the picture. Besides the library, some other places to find crafty awfulness:

Hodgepodge has turned in to one of my favorites. She actually finds neat stuff to do with all the old pictures.

The Craftster Blog has a Crafts Gone Bad Category. Hopefully she’ll add some more stuff to it.

Crafts, Extremely Evil. Look at the Bizarre Crafts one. My sister actually found that book in her thrift store, but she gave it to my other sister. The one she gave me was a set of 3 volumes from the Stitch by Stitch collection circa 1985. Oh boy are there some good ones. It’s actually a useful book for basic instructions, and there’s even the occasional project that could be adapted. The crocheted vests and rayon blouses are just too easy to make fun of, so I scanned in the instructions for one of my favorites, the Rainbow Pompom Bathmat [page1][page2]. Enjoy.

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My Paper Crane posted a sweet little garland of stars she got. I’ve been wanting to try making some of them myself, so I found these directions and gave it a go using some quilling paper. I was with them through the 2-D parts, but I haven’t deciphered the last jump into the third dimension. Maybe I’ll try an additional set of directions next time. The flat ones are pretty cute, though, and easy. I think I can churn out a whole garland of them in front of the TV.

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Jennifer Murphy I am not.

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