I’ve been running around putting fliers up in Lincoln for the Mister Baby show on Friday night! I didn’t know not having a job was so expensive AND such hard work. We’ve made some nice money off of some shows before, but nothing that would cover how much we would spend on new strings, drum heads, and wardrobe. (OK, mostly wardrobe.) Here’s an invite for you (click to enlarge):

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon crafting with my friend Sarah Skean, author of the Great Plains Foodie blog, and leukemia survivor. She made me leftover meatball sandwiches, and I posed with one with my best Angelina Jolie lips interpretation.I also finished my 2008 derby for the hat contest at State Fair Park. Last year, I placed second, but this year I planned ahead, and I’m going for that $100 first prize money.

The derby came out to party with the rest of us at the dome last Friday, but was far from finished. I may add a wire to help balance it on my head.

Last week I finished a bag. It will be a gift for a friend, but in the past, I’ve made bags only to have them seriously get stretched out of shape later.

Last week, I also began bringing home the contents of my cubicle at work. Tyrone asked me, “Hey, isn’t that bag going to be a gift?”

“I’m just QA-ing it,” I replied. Quality assurance, quality control, I wanted to see that it could stand up to the strain, and stretch it out with heavy items, so delicate eggs and tomatoes wouldn’t have to do it.

Here are the pictures of the bag, and I am excited to say that one lucky reader is going to get it:

So what is next? Sunday I went out to a craft gathering where everyone was decoupaging tins and bowls with terriers and Bill Murray. It was a great time crafting with folks I don’t usually get to see to often. I also taught my friend Liz how to do the long-tail cast on method. She wasn’t looking for a new cast on, but once she saw how stretchy it was, she dug it.

Got a 10×10 inch square quilted in an hour last night, and did the same this morning.  I’ve got 16-6 inches on each side left to do before I can start finishing the quilt.  The coming days will involve some sort of business plan on what I can make quickly and possibly sell, but also what I can decrease in size to pack for the move.

Ok, now I have to go work out. HAHAH. That feels great to be saying at 10am.

I gave a bunch of people the address to this blog this week. Hopefully, the readership will increase, but it may turn into a “how to live in a cement mixer” blog for a a little while.

I’m planning on adding more patterns and items to sell to the site, but in the meantime, I will leave you with some activist craft yellow ribbon art. To everything there is a season, and this season I wish you peace:

Well a bunch has happened since my last post. On Sunday, Tyrone and I rode our his’n'her matching yellow Schwinn bicycles to Lincoln’s Earth Day Celebration at Antelope Park. Our neighbor Barbara organized it, and had been organizing it for weeks before. There were a lot of good resources there for recycling and community supported agriculture, and alternative energy, which would have been great to immerse ourselves into, but,

….we’re moving to Arkansas in June. It is official, and my last day at my current employer is on Friday. We will be moving into a reclaimed cement mixer there, Covington Towers. We’ll have the tower on the left. I don’t have an offical new job yet, so keep an eye on this blog, as I may start selling some crafts. If you need any custom crafting (coozies, bags, simple sewing), leave me a note on this blog as it goes directly to my email. Personalized crafts make great wedding gifts, and handmade recycled items reduce our imports from China, as well as keep bulk out of the land fill. (steps off soapbox)

It was my brother’s birthday this weekend too. This Christmas, his girlfriend Jari donated a bunch of 100% wool sweaters and blue plastic bags to my craft bank. One of the sweaters was blue and white, and one of the first gifts my brother ever gave Jari. It also didn’t fit quite right, but Tom didn’t find this out until a few years later. So when Tom and Jari’s birthdays came around, (YES THEY ARE TOM AND JARI! YES, I tried to embroider the beloved cat and mouse on them.) I decided they needed something special:

Tom’s coozie had an isotope design on the back. He works with nuclear power, so I like to think he would enjoy Homer Simpson accessories. Check out the French Knot detail/thumb rest nucleus:

 The earth week festivities conclude with our Arbor Day party on Friday.  Not sure what I’m going to make for it yet.

Went out and had a nice time at Lincoln’s Earth Day festival. Sorry, no photos. My neighbor Barbara organized it all! I was happy to see that many people come out, and I even got tips on where I can dispose of my old computer parts.

This weekend, we had a really productive band practice. That’s right, the band is getting together for one last show, Friday May 2nd at Knickerbocker’s. You can listen to some of our tracks here.

I’ve got a craft backlog to blog about, but I figured I would give you this up-to-the-minute post on what I have been doing. I’m making a bag for Barbara. She’s really helped us to be super green with our front yard, composting most of our yard waste and allowing us to chip up and spread the rest. She’s really inspired me over the years to keep a low-water use landscape, so here is an in-progress shot:

I’m also working on a recycled project that may get me some money in the next few weeks. The idea has been bouncing around my head for weeks. I showed it to Tyrone mid-construction last night and he about died laughing.

It IS on a guitar because I’ve been practicing so much, and wanted to give you some sort of idea of size. It is meant to be a soft focus picture, because your still can’t really tell what it is yet. It is also made out of 3 different red recycled sweaters. I shrunk some mohair, and it really turned out stiff, which is great for this project.

I’ve been getting organized in various ways lately. The top pocket of this organizer will keep me organized ten ways until Tuesday. I can stick markers, pens, pencils, crochet hooks, brushes, cabling needles, and anything else with a small handle in that top rack. empty shot & top rack:

The original pattern only had three rows of pockets. I extended it 2 inches on all sides, because I had enough of the orange remnant fabric, and because that’s how big the other half of the dowell was from Ashleigh’s Christmas gift. The pattern is for Lotta Jansdotter’s organizational rack from _Simple_Sewing_ with Julee’s super mods.

Now finally I can keep both my fabric scissors and paper scissors in eyeshot, but close together. It always seems like one is in the front room and one is upstairs.

I wanted to post this on Friday, but the time escaped me.

I made her some little hair flowers in two sizes with variegated embroidery floss.

I ended up putting green leaves on them too. Didn’t get a picture after I put the leaves on. Still have the one all the way on the left. It looks more like a star or a good luck charm than a flower.

I was hanging out with my friends at a coffee shop this weekend, making a coozie gift for someone’s birthday when my friend Sarah said, “I thought you were going to make me one of those?”

When I was done with the first, I started on the second. Here is a picture of it at play at the Lied Transplant Center/Hotel: