whining...

I have not been very good about blogging lately, and while I can fairly point to the fact that I have very little free time these days as an excuse, I think the truth is closer to this: I haven't been cross-stitching, and that depresses me so much that I avoid my blog because it's a reminder to me that my stitching projects are just sitting there gathering dust. True, I don't think of this blog as a stitching-only blog, but that has been its primary focus and it's really depressing to see the pictures of projects that have been so sadly neglected.

Part of it is little Kate; I would never for a second complain about how much time she takes up, not after battling infertility for four long years, but nevertheless, I had forgotten just how MUCH time a baby takes up. Also, I have pretty much lost my main source of income (selling items on eBay), which means that my crafting time has to be focused on making items I hope to sell, rather than stitching away on my lovely HAEDs or the Mirabilia I'm stitching for Kate. I still sell my own items on eBay (in fact I just made a sale from Faery Fire Fabrics, and the customer found me through an eBay listing, yay!), but I was also selling items for someone else, and the pay was pretty good. But he finally became fed up with eBay's new policies and restrictions, so, at least for now, that job is over.

I did state at the very beginning that this was a whiny post.

I just miss cross stitching. Oh, and I'm fat. Since I'm whining anyway.

zippermania

How cool is this?



I didn't make it -- I just think it's really neat. It's one long zipper that zips up into a coin purse! So nifty!

You can get one from this lovely Etsy seller: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GrubbyFeet

owl

Here's my most recent needle-felted creation, Jedediah the Owl:



He's TINY - less than two inches tall! I think I'll definitely have to make some more needle-felted birds, because I'm so happy with how little Jed turned out. Next up, I'm planning to felt a bluebird. I think a little felted bird would look really nifty swinging from my car's rearview mirror.

I'm also playing around with the idea of using needle-felted miniatures as air fresheners. I'm not sure how well this will work, so I'll have to experiment. My plan is to use the scents that I have for soapmaking, and just add some to the felted miniature. I'm not sure who well or how long the wool will hold the scent, though, so that's where the experimentation comes in.

pincushions

I found a tutorial on making the most adorable little pincushions here the other day, and had to make some immediately! Here's my favorite so far:



Isn't it adorable?

Leah, who created the tutorial, was nice enough to give me permission to re-sell these, so I'm going to be making many more. Right now there are three up in my Etsy shop.

These are SO easy to make, that even if you suck at sewing [raises hand] you can still make one in under an hour.

reproductive craftiness

So my latest and greatest crafty endeavor, i.e. having a baby, has proven to be even more time-consuming than I expected, and I've had no time to be crafty, let alone update my blog! But now that my new little princess is settling into something resembling a schedule I've pulled out my needles and thread and wool and beads and such and am getting back into things. In the meantime, here's a photo of my little snuggle-wiggle, Catherine Jane, a.k.a. Kate:

Ornaments

So this year I'm focusing more on needle-felted ornaments, rather than stitched ones. I still think stitched ornaments are probably the prettiest kind (I would love to someday have a Christmas tree decorated with nothing but hand-embroidered ornaments; wouldn't that be gorgeous?), but they are awfully time-consuming, and as usual I find myself racing against the clock as Christmas approaches.

I put a few felted ornaments up in my Etsy shop and have been encouraged by the response, so I'm going to make some more over the next couple of days. If I find time, I also want to write up a quick tutorial on making simple felt ball ornaments. They're so quick and easy to make that they're a fantastic last-minute gift idea for crafty folks.

Anyway, here are a couple of the ornaments I've made so far:

SNOWMAN ORNAMENT



PURPLE BALL ORNAMENT WITH STARS (this one sold almost as soon as I put it in my shop!:


MUSHROOM BALL ORNAMENT (this one is probably my favorite; I think mushrooms are so cute...):

Another polar bear!

Finally found time to get back to needle felting, which I've been missing. I found some really nifty tutorials on making felted soaps - here's the one I think is most helpful - so I've tried my hand at that, but I don't have any photos yet because I apparently don't have the hang of it yet (I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to have a big wad of wool hanging off one end, sigh).

I'm also working on some Christmas ornaments, but the first order of business was to make a new polar bear, since they always do well in my Etsy shop. So here he is! He's only two inches high. Awww...



He's up for sale here.