Well, it’s been over six months so I guess I’m due for a big blog update! What was I doing for the last six months, you ask? I have been doing a little creative writing and a whole lot of nothing else besides the usual banalities of adult life (i.e. working, sleeping, paying bills and stressing out over the silly stuff.) Sorry to say my ego is fragile when it comes to my writing and at the moment I don’t plan on sharing my story online. Instead I want to give an update on the
crafties I’
ve been working on, and these are really worth sharing.
The biggest project I’
ve been working on is for my four year old niece who will be getting a little brother very soon. Consequently she will be moving from her bedroom to occupy the 3rd floor of her home and will get her very own kiddie-suite complete with a bedroom, bathroom and play room. Quite swanky if you ask me.
What will soon be her bedroom had been painted a deep blue, while the play room was a light, sunny yellow. Her parents wanted to decorate the rooms with murals so we came up with two themes that prevented the rooms from having to be repainted a different base color. The blue bedroom was to become a Pacific Northwest Ocean Scene, while the yellow play room would be turned into a Sunny Garden Scene.
It took me a couple months of 2-4 hour sessions on the weekends to finish the artwork and get all the little pieces glued to the walls, but I’m extremely pleased with the result. As you can probably tell from the photos I’m much better at animals than plants. Animals are just much more interesting, and less repetitive, to paint!
THE GARDEN ROOM: (a.k.a. The Play Room)
Here's my happy little tree. (Thanks Bob Ross!)
Some happy little flowers that gave me carpel tunnel...
Anyone up for a verse of Freebird?
Some 3-D Sculpey bees with their hive. I had to use epoxy to get them to stay on the wall, which was a tedious and smelly process.
I think the raccoon is my favorite in this room.
THE OCEAN ROOM: (a.k.a. The Bedroom)
Free Willy and Free Willy Jr.
You may not be able to tell from this picture, but the bubbles are the flat-backed glass pieces glued to the wall.
Salmon... yum.
More glass bubbles in the surf and a few shells in the 'sand.'
A who's-who of Pacific NW fish.
And finally, it's the octopus' garden, in the shade.
Thanks to bro-in-law P who put up the adorable resin lattice around the garden room and to sis-in-law J who gave me a lot of encouragement when my interest and ego were flagging in the crazy heat-wave that’s been hitting the Seattle area so hard this summer. You guys rock.
Next we move back to crochet. Now first of all I must say I haven’t picked up a crochet hook since I finished that green granny-square car coat. I’m not sure why, but obviously other things have been encroaching on my time. Of course yours truly is not always known for her common sense, so for some reason I’ve decided to tackle my as-of-yet-unfinished crochet projects in the sweltering heat of summer. Nothin’ like working with a good cashmere/alpaca/silk blend while you’re sweating like a pig and your house is roasting you alive in the unbelievable (and record-breaking) 103 degree heat. (For those of you not in the Western Washington area you have to realize we are NOT used to this kind of heat and we’re all utterly unprepared to survive in houses without AC!!) But I digress… I finally finished the Sensual Crochet cowl neck sweater (a pattern I’ve done before) in record time!
Now I’m on to other things. I’m working on the Courtney Corset Top from Robyn Chachula’s book Blueprint Crochet (I HIGHLY recommend this book!) and it’s going quite well so far, plus I’ve been fashioning several little ami’s for my as-of-yet-unborn nephew that will hang on a mobile over his crib. I’ll be posting pics of the mobile once it’s done, so those of you who like monkeys stay tuned! Also, I’m going to try my hand at quilting. Scary, no? But with my current store-bought comforter falling to pieces I’ve decided to quilt my own duvet cover (I don’t think my ancient sewing machine can handle the actual quilting part) so stay tuned for the hair-tearing and swearing that will soon ensue.
Your-not-always-so-current-blogger,
Lyzard
