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Back to Writing?

Inspired by Claudia, I've decided to dust off this old blog and commit to writing on a regular basis. We'll see how this goes.

I started this blog way back in 2002 when Maddie was nearly 2 years old and I was finally finding a little free time for knitting and crafting again after the craziness of the whole baby thing. Over the years it morphed into a lot of things and I started a lot of side projects on the internet (including Black Sheep Bags, my podcast, the Pincushion Challenge, The Chocolate Blog, and many more.) 

At this point, I think I need to land in one place and write about whatever I'm obsessed with at the moment. (And I often become obsessed with things -- it's my nature.) 

If you still visit my website -- Hi! Glad you stuck around. I hope to get re-acquainted with you again!

(Oh, the photo? That's a pile of my dish scrubbies. Free pattern at Ravelry and on the blog.)

The Pincushion Challenge Returns

Do you like to make pincushions? If so, then pop on over to the Pincushion Challenge and check out the new theme!

New Pincushion Challenge Theme

I've been getting emails recently about the Pincushion Challenge and all you pincushion lovers will be happy to know that the hiatus is over and the new theme has been posted.  I'm looking forward to making my pincushion and I hope you are too!

Pincushion Challenge --New Theme!

Have you checked out the Pincushion Challenge lately?  The January/February theme -- Try Something New -- just wrapped up and the new theme for Maarch/April is. . .

The Sea.  You can see all the awesome pincushions over at the Pincushion Challenge Flickr Group.  Please join in, we'd love to have you!

Pincushion Challenge & Notebooklets!

I have posted the September/October theme for the Pincushion Challenge. Since I'm thinking about Fall the new theme is autumn.

And I made some more KNIT notebooklet, including some in a cream/olive green colorway. I even included some graph paper in case you need to sketch out something to scale or want to chart out a bit of lace. And I'll be happy to make custom colors!

Pincushion Challenge Gallery

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called January Pincushion Challenge -- Winter Wonderland. Make your own badge here.

The latest Pincushion Challenge gallery is up at Flickr!

Pincushion Swap!

I just received my package from the Pincushion Challenge Swap! Look at how gorgeous it is!! My swap partner was Kristin from Kleas and I couldn't be happier with the package she sent. It included all kinds of goodies along with the pincushion -- chocolate, soap, trim, paper goods and buttons too! I have to show you the secret to the pincushion though. . .

Those flower on top are actually pins! Can you even stand it! I don't know how she made all the tiny, perfect stitches. I'm just in awe of it. Thank you again, Kristin! I love it!

(I sent my pincushion package to Jade over at Unfinished Object. I forgot to take a photo before I sent it off to her -- doh!)

Pincushion Challenge Gallery is up and so is the swap info!

Go take a look at the recycled pincushion gallery! Very cool stuff there. I've also put up all the swap info too!

Recycled Pincushion

As usual, I waited until the last minute to make my pincushion -- why do I do this?  I had an idea in mind for a long time.  Maybe 6-7 weeks ago we were cleaning out Maddie's drawers and getting rid of the clothes that no longer fit her.  I took most of them to the local re-sale shop and the rest to the charity thrift shop, but I kept her old blue jeans. 

There was a pattern in one of my Japanese craft books for these little zippered pouches that are basically two squares that you sew together (or you can do this with one rectangle too) that looked really cool.  You sew three sides normally, but the third side you squish the other way so that the side seems come together and it makes it sort of 3-D. 

Well, that's exactly what I did.  I cut out two square of the denim from one pant leg, zig-zagged and straight stitched each square with white thread for decoration and threw in a loop of rick-rack so I could hang it up.  Easy as pie, except for hand sewing that 4th side together -- ouch!  Where the heck is my thimble!

Finish up those pincushion!

I'm amazed by all the pincushions people are making out of recycled materials.  Everything from cans and jars to gravy boats and gelato dishes -- really!  I'm hoping to get the gallery up tomorrow over at the Pincushion Challenge website, but there is still plenty of time for you to dig through the recycling bin in your own home and come up with a nifty pincushion.  Heck, I haven't even started mine yet, although the materials have been laying in the sewing room for over a month.  (I'll give you a hint -- we cleaned out Maddie's drawers and I found some great things to use!)

Pincushion Challenge -- Recycle

I'm such a slacker!  I don't have my Recycle Challenge pincushion finished (or even started) yet -- but that's okay!  The deadline isn't until Saturday.  Plenty of time!  And you can do it too.  Remember, you have to have made a pincushion for one of the challenges in order to participate in the swap for October/November -- so get going!

Shout out for 52 Projects!

Remember a while back I wrote about this really cool book called 52 Projects?  Well, the author, Jeffrey Yamaguchi, has website -- also called 52 Projects.  And today he was kind enough to post about the Pincushion Challenge! 

He posts about lots of inspiring stuff, including crafty things, so go check it out!  (And check out his book too -- it's sure to spark your creativity!)

New Pincushion Challenge Theme -- Recycle

The new theme is up at the Pincushion Challenge website.  Whew!  I'm going with the flow on this one.  I've been so inspired by Wardrobe Refashion and all those cool t-shirt books.  And now there's the latest whiplash: wardrobe surgery.  I'm not sure if I'm up to the task of making my own clothes yet, but I think I could change some of my old clothes into pincushions!

I'm also trying to figure out all the logistics of a pincushion swap.  Anyone who has run a swap before -- do you have any advice?

Pincushion Challenge Gallery Up!

The new gallery is up over at the Pincushion Challenge website. And I'll be announcing more stuff this afternoon!

Flower Pincushion Challenge

The second Pincushion Challenge is coming to an end and last night I realized, in all the excitement, that I hadn't finished (or even started, truth be told) my pincushion!

Well, lately I've been reading Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts, so I guess that's what inspired me to get out the scraps from my latest quilt and start hacking away at them.  I really like how it turned out, although I still haven't mastered adding rick rack as a picot edging.  I suppose I should probably do the corners by hand, but I was in a bit of a rush as it was 10PM and all.

You still have until midnight to get those pincushions made!  If I can do it in less than an hour the night before the challenge ends, I know you can make one today!  I have confidence in you!

*** Update ***  Wow!  Lots of pincushion photos coming in today!  I can't wait to show you the gallery tomorrow!

My lame pincushion. . .

I finished my pincushion in the nick of time!  Acutally it was done on Sunday night and I just procrastinated taking the photo.  I ran into a snag -- thank you again Martha Stewart.  I used her online pattern and she says that you can get emery powder to go inside the pincushion at a hardware store.  Well, let me tell you -- I searched for the stuff!  I even had a run in with a sexist "helpful hardware man" at the local Ace who wanted to know if I was looking for it for my husbands "power tool" -- sheesh!  So my strawberry is filled with some sort of polyester fiberfill and that's just fine with me.

I've been working hard for a good portion of the day getting the gallery up -- Wow!  There were more participants than I thought there would be!  How cool is that?  I'll put up the gallery and reveal June's theme tomorrow over at the Pincushion Challenge website, so I hope you'll all stop by and have a look!

*** Update ***

I'm really not looking for compliments on my pincushion -- honest!  You can't tell from the photo, but the green felt on the top is terribly off center.  I just photographed it from it's "good" side.  It's my first attempt and I'm happy enough with how it turned out though.  And hey, tomorrow another challenge starts so I have another chance, right?

Pincushion Challenge #1 Ends Soon!

The first Pincushion Challenge in ending in less than two weeks!  Have you finished you pincushion yet?  I know I haven't, but I have big plans I tell ya! 

I've already received more than a dozen entries -- yeah!!  I'll be putting up the gallery at the end of the month, but if you need a sneak peek you can find one here and here and here.  (That's all for now, I don't want to spoil all the surprises!)

So grab a needle or some wool and whatever else you have laying around and see what you can come up with!  It can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.  And remember!  The theme this month is. . .

Goals (again)

Time to set some goals again.  It worked really well last time, so I thought I'd give it a try again.  But first, here's something I picked up the last day of MS&W:

It's some hand-dyed 100% wool felt in very pretty colors which are difficult to photograph in our *still* cloudy weather.  (I think I bought it from this vendor, but they gave me nothing with their business name on it -- not even the receipt had their name on it!)

Okay, so yesterday was cleaning and washing day and today I need to go grocery shopping in a very bad way.  Here are some other things I want to get done this week:

• Do some work on the Knitting Blogs Web Ring-- maintenance on the existing members and adding 10 sites a day Tu-Fr.
• Clean out my desk and desk organizer.  Okay, to keep me honest, a before shot. . .

• Finish the binding on my first quilt -- seriously!  This was on my last list of goals and I didn't have a thimble so it never got done, but I have purchased one and now have no excuse.
• Wash my fabrics for my next quilt.
• Finish the entrelac bag.
• Write up the final pattern for the entrelac bag.
• Get to work on my Pincushion Challenge pincushion.
• Get to work on my back-tack project.

Okay, I'm probably already over the limit on what is physically possible to complete, but I did a lot yesterday, so I'm feeling good about my outlook for the week.  I got pretty much caught up on work -- cut out all the pictures I had printed for patterns and made up some patterns.  I even got packages packed up and ready to ship.  It was a productive work day. 

In other news, I switched to libsyn for hosting my Stitch-Cast mp3's, starting with my latest episode.  So if you have had trouble downloading or listening to them in the past, please give it another try!  I'm hoping that this will solve all the problems and judging from the number of downloads I had yesterday, it's doing a good job!  Thanks everyone for listening!  I really appreciate it!

Pincushion Challenge Starts Today!

Thanks for all the great comments about the Pincushion Challenge! I'm so excited that so many of you were interested in this project and I hope you like the first theme.

Stop by the new Pincushion Challenge website and let me know what you think. I can't wait to see pictures of your creations!