When my necklace collection started exploding out of the little jewelry boxes I have, I headed to Home Depot for a solution.  I'd planned on building an elaborate thingamajig out of dowels and fabric, but when I saw this tie rack for under $10, I was persuaded to forgo the craft project.  I love that they are all out.  I definitely wear them more now that I see them all the time.

I posted more shots of my necklaces in the afternoon sun on my Flickr.

I used our old CD shelved as my shoe rack.  The upper shelves hold some mini drawers for my spill-over earring/bracelet collection.  We have another one of these that Andrew uses as a book shelf next to his computer.  They are super useful because they are very compact but still have a lot of shelves.

We don't use the CD shelves anymore because we ripped all the songs from our CDs and moved them into storage books.  We don't even use CDs anymore and hardly ever buy them.  We get most of our music on eMusic.  I just realized we don't have a single cassette tape in the apartment.  Nor a way to play them.  How weird is that?

I like using a mattress pad.  And, although the tops are always nice and padded, the sides are either way too tight, or, like my last one, made of some sort of pantyhose type material that started running the first time I washed it.  I've actually broken fingernails while wrestling on a mattress pad.  They've been driving me nuts for years.

Recently, we wore out my favorite easy-to-put-on fitted sheet and I had a light bulb moment.  Why not just sew the mattress pad top to the fitted sheet?  Well, it wasn't easy, but it's totally worth it, because now it's super easy to put the mattress pad on now.

Here are the steps I took:

1) Cut the sides off the mattress pad so you are just left with the pad.

2) Put fitted sheet on the bed and lay the mattress pad on top.

3) Pin the mattress pad to the fitted sheet using a ton of pins.  Take care to not pin the whole thing to the mattress (like I did a couple of times).

4) Sew around the edge of the mattress pad.

5) cut out the center part of the old fitted sheet that is under the mattress pad.  I did this partly because the sheet was already fraying and partly to not have too many layers covering the mattress and keeping it from breathing.

I didn't do a perfect job, but it's hidden under the sheets, so no one except me (and you) knows.  The best part is that the mattress pad doesn't *snap* off while I'm making the bed or sneak off the corners in the middle of the night anymore.  Yay!

I've been walking around for days saying to anyone that will listen that I've been craving a sugar cookie with icing.   And then yesterday in the mail ... I GOT SUGAR COOKIES.  They didn't have icing, but they were button shaped and had sprinkles.

Khadija of Baraka Life sent them to me as a thank you for donating my neopolitan blanket.  She found a home for it with Project Night Night.

Her post about Project Night Night said that we should expect a little Thank You in the mail ... but I never read that post.  In fact, I have 628 unread posts in my bloglines and 47 posts where I clicked the "Keep New" box with the intention of going back to comment later.

I also have over 100 un-answered blog comments.  I feel like I have the hugest circle of crafty friends.  You guys are so hilarious, inspiring, sweet, and thoughtful.  I wish wish wish I had the time to email you personally right now, but I don't.  So here I am telling you (yes you!) that I totally appreciate every comment.

Your comments are exactly the reason I keep stealing time to post ... even though I should be doing something else ... and that "something else" is probably more important ... but it's not nearly as rewarding. :)  So, keep sticking with me, my crafty conspirators.  You are my sunshine!

Now that my sugar cookie dreams have been fulfilled, I'd like to suggest to the universe that maybe it's next task should be to grant my wish of unlimited time and money.  I mean, it would really cut down on the work the universe will have to do for me later, because unlimited time and money would pretty much take care of all the rest of my dreams, too.  Let's get cracking, universe!

I'm still having fun making swatches from the patterns inCrochet Patterns Book 300.  This is my favorite (foot for scale).  I remember my mom making a white crochet cotton thread table topper in a similar pineapple pattern.  I like it super big like this.  I think it looks a little peacocky, too.

I'd like to make a light summer blanket for our bed in an open, lacy pattern.  Obviously not for *this* summer...

Lots of these patterns are in the running.

The latest issue of The AntiCraft just came out, and it's entirely devoted to bacon.  Remember the bacon project I teased you with?  Well, now you can make your own Bacon Of Hate.  Well, what are you waiting for? :)

This is the present that Ester sent me for her 1 Year Specky Surprise.  It's just as wonderful and amazing as it looks!  The rainbow balloon is made of shiny beads, and Amitie has pink blushing cheeks.  So cute!  I was wondering why she called it a Specky Surprise, and the cute little tag around my gift cleared things up:


How super sweet is that?!?  It's decaying, as she would say. :)

Ester probably has no idea how *happy* she makes me all the time.  I still carry around the owl needlebook she made for me -- and it makes me smile every time I see the hand stitched "Hoot Alice Hoot" on the front.  Her comments are always so full of sunshine that they are almost too bright to read.  And she's totally hilarious.  Her current header tag line is, "whimsical crafting and lousy thoughts." :)

And, her creations are so wonderful and inspiring.  She creates the most intricate, delicate, and whimsical tiny felt houses, like Blue and Enchanted and this brown and green one.  And look at this pile of handmade gifts she made for a swap.

You should definitely add Ester's blog to your reader.  She'll delight you in so many ways!

This tutorial was originally posted on Whip Up August 2007.  Now that everything's blooming, I thought it was a perfect time to post it here, too.

Quick Felt Daisy Tutorial

Here's a quick way to make cute daisies from felt.

Supplies

* White and Yellow Felt
* Yellow Floss and a Needle
* Disappearing Ink Pen (or some other marking fabric marker/pencil)
* Two round things to trace: one big one little
*Scissors, and manicure scissors, if you have them


Directions

Trace your big round thing on the white felt. I used the cone that came with a pound of yarn. I used a purple disappearing ink marker to trace the circle.

Trace the little circle in the middle of the big circle. I used the cap from an "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray bottle. I use the bottle (filled with water) to spray stuff I'm ironing ... that's why it was handy. :)

Cut out around the large circle.

Cut from the edge towards the center on the top and bottom side of the circle. Only cut up to the center circle line for these and all the rest of the cuts.

Cut from the edge towards the center on the left and right.

Cut between each of the four cuts. You now have eight cuts.

Cut between each of the eight cuts. You now have 16 cuts.

I used my cuticle scissors to cut the curve at the top of each petal. I have a pair of manicure scissors just for crafting. They are great for cutting small details in felt.  Especially in this case, since the blades are curved.

After I go around the circle cutting the right edge of the petals, I flip the daisy over and cut the other side of the petal.

This is what your daisy will look like after all the petals are cut.

To make the daisy center, trace your small circle on the yellow felt and cut it out.

Attach the yellow circle to the daisy petals with French knots.

Now your daisy is ready to be attached anywhere you'd like.  I’m put mine on a blue crochet handbag.

One of the most popular things I've ever put up on my blog is the dishwasher dirty/clean indicator I made almost two years ago exactly.  People email me all the time asking me to make one for them.  Since they take hours to make out of felt, I always decline.  There is no way to sew one that I could then sell for a reasonable price.

But recently I had an idea.  Why not make one out of paper and make the dress the magnet?  It's so smart that it makes me feel dumb that I didn't think of it in the last two years.

This is a prototype that I made for one of my handbag customers who was insistent on buying one for a male friend of hers.

I printed the girl on card stock (and some instructions on the back) and then laminated it with SelfSeal Repositionable laminating sheets.  I figured it should be waterproof since wet soapy hands will be touching it.  

For the magnet, I cut out the dress shape from an advertising magnet that was on my fridge.  Then I printed a paisley pattern* on some sticker paper and stuck it to the magnet.  Finally, I used a laminating sheet to waterproof the top of the magnet.

It cracks me up that this is one of my most popular designs since it was a playful thing I made for giggles.  Wouldn't it be funny if some big chain contacted me to license** the design?  OK, it  wouldn't be funny ... it would be awesome.  I would love to be a millionaire and tell people I made all my money in dirty/clean dishwasher magnets.

This prototype was a little labor intensive.  But once I work out the details and streamline the process, I'd like to make some for my shop in with lots of different dress patterns.  And maybe some naked girls.  And maybe some guys.  Is anyone still interested?

* The paisley design is one that got sent out free in my weekly Dover Sampler email.  They usually have some great royalty-free stuff in there which I save on my computer.  I'm so happy that I've finally used one!

** I own the copyright for my Dirty/Clean Dishwasher Magnet, so don't go making these and selling them.  Especially you, China.

When I started 2008 here on the craft blog, I was so excited.  If you were reading then, you probably remember my Here Comes Me post where I laid out my Craft Blog Mission Statement and my Creative Manifesto.  I saw a year brimming with crafty possibilities.  And while I tried to leave myself open to what the new year would bring (instead of imposing structure on it with a daily practice or some such thing), I *did* have some expectations, the *least* of which is that I'd continue to have lots of time for crafting.

I thought I was being reasonable ...


I don't complain about non-crafty life much here because it doesn't usually affect my crafting.  But the sad truth is that as 2008 progresses, I have less and less time to craft.  And, for the foreseeable future, that amount of time is going to continue to shrink.  I imagine myself in July using my crochet hooks as chop sticks just to spend some quality time with them.

So, now my mission statement, which included my intention to post more patterns and more tutorials and was written when I was full of enthusiasm, sounds pretentious and overblown.  Almost embarrassing.  Actually, really embarrassing.

I'm not sure how all of this is going to shake out.  I'm going to keep posting what I can, when I can.  I'm just sad that things aren't working out the way I hoped they would.  Disappointment is never fun.

The pink blob above the is purse I worked on while waiting in line for the four 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival movies we went to see (here are reviews one, two, three, four).  I didn't even get it a third of the way done.  Poor pink purse.  Maybe 2009 will be our year.

I've been picking a different stitch to swatch from my new crochet stitch book when I have a spare minute here and there.  I'm really loving it.  Doing little swatches like this is like the equivalent of doing quick sketches.  It's wonderful practice.

The big one on the left is very peacock feathery ... I experimented with closing up the waves in the top two rows.  It's very difficult to photograph details in the shiny cream yarn, but that's what I have to doodle with.  You'll just have to trust me.

I really like the ones with the arches.  I've never tried anything like this and I love the technique.  I need to take another look through my other stitch books and see if I just missed them or if they really are new-to-me.

Michelle asked about what crochet stitch books I own.  I thought you guys might all want to know:

Crochet Patterns Book 300 is my newest addition, courtesy of Alex.  This is where all the patterns above are coming from.  There are all sorts of patterns in the book.  Square number 10 on the cover is tree shapes.  I think it would look cool in rows of brown and green.  I'll have to try that someday.  I slobbered all over this companion crochet motif book when we were at Kinokuniya last weekend.  It's going to be my next crafty purchase.


300 Crochet Stitches (The Harmony Guides, V. 6) (Paperback).

220 More Crochet Stitches: Volume 7 (The Harmony Guides) (Paperback)

I got these free for joining a craft book club in the mid 90's.  I wish they were spiral bound, because they are a pain to keep open when I want to use them.  Most of the time I photocopy the pattern I want and carry that around with me. The books are mostly pattern stitches but they also have some filet crochet charts, motifs, Irish crochet, edgings, Tunisian stitches, and granny squares/hexagons.  They have been super useful for me.  They are both full of post it notes reminding me what I used certain stitches for.  The tricky part is that one of them is written in American stitch notation and the other isn't.  It took me a while to figure out why I couldn't duplicate the stitch patterns in the one book.  Finally I figured it out because I noticed the double crochet graphic in the one book was the same as the single crochet in the other.  I'm not sure if the books on Amazon are like this, too.  I just thought I'd warn you.

I've had this one since 1989.  There are a ton of crochet stitches in here, but nothing too fancy.  I always loved that there were all kinds of needlework in the book, but the truth is I've only used it for crochet reference.  Maybe I should try out some macramé soon.