One more week and I'll be finished with my top secret AntiCraft projects.  I'll be sad to mail them away, but then I will be back to making post-able crafts.

Recently, I started thinking about all the craft and non-craft plans I have for the coming year and it made woozy. My solution?  A chart, of course.






I made a list of all of the important things I want to fit into my life (or have to fit in) and I scheduled a chunk of time for each of them every week.  This includes:

  · apartment cleaning
  · laundry
  · putting away the laundry
  · crafting
  · craft research and development (I need a lab coat)
  · blogging, craft and otherwise
  · updating website

The point isn't to freak out that I'm not doing enough (which is status quo, I don't need a chart to freak out), but to help me spend my limited free time in a balanced way so none of the things I'd really like to do get completely neglected.

My philosophy is that even small things accumulate to become something bigger.  Keeping that mantra in my head is what stops me from spending my ten free minutes playing Pop and Drop or just throwing up my arms and giving up when I feel overwhelmed.  Ugh, it sounds like a ridiculous inspirational poster with a drop of water plinking into the sea, but it really does help me.

I plan on entering this magical utopia after I'm done with the AntiCraft book stuff, because that is my entire focus right now.  I'll let you know how my plan works out and if I need to make adjustments to it.

Also, I have been tagged by Ambika.  It's the "five things I haven't already mentioned on my blog" one:

1) I have 7 siblings of all sorts: full, step, half, and adopted.  In high school, there were 6 kids ranging from 2 to 17 living in my home.

2) I didn't touch raw meat (except hamburger) until I was 30-years-old.  I will only touch raw meat with gloves on.

3) I have a thing for the moon.  Seeing the moon in the sky makes me unbelievably happy.  My only tattoo, which I designed, is the moon with clouds. It's on the inside of my left forearm.

4) I will eat anything tomato-related, but I will not eat tomatoes or anything with discernible chunks of tomatoes.  Yes: tomato sauce, tomato paste, smoothish pasta and pizza sauce, ketchup, tomato-based Indian sauces.  No: pico de gallo, tomato slices, diced tomatoes, big slimy chunks of tomatoes in my pasta or pizza sauce.  I've gotten better ... now I will scrape the yuck off and keep eating (that wasn't always the case).  I will also dip my chip in salsa to get the salsa juice, but I shake off any chunks that stick to my chip.  I really should get a blender.

5) I love first-person-shooters and uber-violent video games.  A couple years ago, Andrew gave me Manhunt as a surprise gift.  I swooned.  I had been seeing the commercials for months and they were scaring the hell out of me.  The game is ten times scarier.

and, just in case someone is itching to tag me for "6 weird things about me" ...

6) My big dream is to be the lead singer in a band, and has been since I was around 11 years old.  For real. Sadly, I'm a terrible singer.

In Faun's patch swap, I scored the orange work platypus from Crafty McGee.  I'm so totally happy!  I wish I'd have made more patches so I would have received more patches.  There were so many wonderful one's sent in.  I can't wait to see who gets my paisley ... I hope they like it.

As promised, Faun included all sorts of wonderful goodies.  I got a print of Queenish (mine is similar to the photo ... except that it has a dark green hashed background) and a set of iron-on transfers.  I really really want to use the little girl with the balloon who is saying "thinking of you" right this very second.  It's too cute.  Thank you for the wonderful treats, Faun!

Looking in Faun's Etsy Shop reminded me that I bought this awesome glass pendant from her.  I get compliments every time I wear it.  I love that the red blobs kind of look like globs of blood. I freaked out when I saw it in her store and was nervous the whole time I was going through the checkout process because I was afraid that someone else would snatch it up.

Thank you so much Faun and Rose for having good pictures I could borrow for this post.  And double-plus-thanks for filling my mailbox with awesome goodies.

When you read this tutorial, my instructions might seem terribly obvious.  But if you look at the stitching on my first stuffie, you'd see it wasn't obvious to me. :)  Now that I've worked out a system, I'm able to jump right into my felt projects without having to labor over, and struggle with, the stitching.

For other options to hand sew felt see my blanket stitch tutorial and my post about choosing between whip stitch and blanket stitch.

	(1) Place the wrong-sides of the felt layers together and pin or baste them together. Note One: All stitches should go in and come out about an eighth of an inch back from the edge of the felt. Note Two: I used to struggle with knotting my floss, but Heather Bailey's Best Knot Ever Tutorial changed my hand sewing and embroidery forever.  Seriously. On the right-hand side, take your knotted floss and go from the inside of the bottom layer through to the outside. The knot should be sandwiched between the two layers with your floss coming out of the bottom layer.
	(2) Put the needle through the top layer exactly above where the floss is coming out of the bottom layer.  Push the needle through the original hole in the bottom layer.  Pull through both layers. This stitch will help anchor the two layers of felt together to minimize slipping as you sew.
	(3) Put the needle through existing hole in the top layer.  Put  the needle in at an angle so the point comes out of the bottom layer about an eighth of an inch to the left of the first stitch. Pull through both layers. This stitch will cover the first stitch.
	(4) Put the needle through the top layer above where the floss is coming out of the bottom layer. Put the needle in at an angle so the point comes out of the bottom layer about and eighth of an inch to the left of the previous stitch. Pull through both layers.
	(5) Repeat across.
	(6) When you make your last stitch, put the needle through the top layer above where the floss is coming out of the bottom layer. Push the needle through the last hole in the bottom layer.  Pull through both layers.
	(7) Put your needle through the last hole in the top layer so the needle point is between the two layers of felt. Pull through.  This stitch will cover the last stitch you made. [FOR A CLOSED SHAPE - Put your needle in through the last hole in the top layer so the needle point comes out of the seam between the two layers next to the last stitch.  Pull the needle through to the outside of the piece.]
	(8) On the inside of the two layers of felt, put your needle under the last stitch. [FOR A CLOSED SHAPE - Put your needle's point back through the seam and catch an inside diagonal stitch.  Sometimes I leave the last inside diagonal stitch a little loose so it's easy to catch. If you can't catch an inside diagonal stitch, you can put your needle under one of the outside stitches.]
	(9) Wrap the floss around the tip of your needle two times, and pull the needle through to create a knot on the inside of the two layers. [FOR A CLOSED SHAPE - Whether you caught an inside stitch or an outside stitch, after you make your knot, put the needle in through the seam and pull it out somewhere else on the piece.  Tug on the floss a little to pull the knot through the seam to hide it. ]
	(10) Pull the pieces apart to flatten the stitches. When making a stuffie, put about 2 times the amount of stuffing that you think will fit in your piece.  As long as you aren't misshaping your stuffie, keep adding stuffing. Tightly packed stuffing pulls the pieces apart so the stitches will lay flat.  Also, the tighter you stuff your piece, the less lumpy it will look.

If happiness was poison, I'd be dead.  Why?  Because The AntiCraft accepted three of my projects for their upcoming book.  I'm going to be in a book!  Of crafts!  Me.  I'm shocked and thrilled to be a part of this project.

I've been in love with the AntiCraft since Green Kitchen pointed them out to me.  The AntiCraft's quarterly issues are full of great projects and they always have an edgy, dark sense of humor.  Check out these snowflake-to-skull arm warmers - too cool.    And, speaking of manifestos, their Antifesto kicks ass.

I've been sworn to secrecy about my projects, so I can't tell you what I'm making, but I *can* tell you it's planned for a Fall 2007 release. The deadline for all my materials is February 1st, so I'm busily crafting and writing.  It's going to be hard to wait 9 months for the book to come out before I can talk to you guys about it.

[Images are details from a Henry Darger painting]