Newbie Swap Finished!

That's right! I've finished making all the swap items for my partner! Instead of the two smalls, one medium that was required, I ended up making four smalls, two mediums and threw in a whole bunch of craft goodies!

I can't post anything just yet as I am waiting for my partner to finish up her items for me and only after we meet up (since we live about twenty minutes apart - sweet! Saving on postage!) and swap packages can I post. Of course, I'll only post after she opens it. I'm excited to see what her reaction will be. I can, however show a little spoiler... what's on the box only! :P

As you can see, she's a huge fan of GIR and Invader Zim. I had no idea what that show was so I watched a few episodes and stalked websites and forums for information. I think she'll like it very much!

I promise to post everything once we swap!



In other news:
I have not been crafting my Hogwarts Crest lately as my recovery has been steady but slow :( I spent this week finishing up a smaller cross stitch piece for my swap partner only. This week will be crazy for me as well as last week's job interview has been rescheduled for this week and my boyfriend has finally convinced me to go take my driver's test. I will hopefully jump back into full swing come Wednesday night.

Let's go!
-Nessa

Week Three Hogwarts Crest

Cross Stitch:

Week Three - February 7 - February 13

Sorry for the very late post. This past week has been extra crazy and I only had a few days to work on this project. Tuesday I went bowling with momma, her boyfriend, his son and my boy. Wednesday was a mad dash to the dentist (whom told me I have to get a root canal) who sent me to an Endodontist (root canal specialist)... basically it took all day for someone relying on transit. 

Thursday was spent in major pain from all the poking and prodding from the dentists and I didn't eat anything all day due to the constant pain. I spent Thrusday crocheting as my mind doesn't have to work too hard thinking pattern-wise and on a few other mindless craft projects for my Craftster swap. Friday was basically the same.

Saturday was my Valentine's day with boy. He made me heart shaped cookies decorated with smarties. I also got a lottery ticket, a HMV gift card and a bag of cinnamon hearts (which I will enjoy for a while after the surgery).

Now, this upcoming week will be just as bad. I will be getting my root canal Wednesday and I have a job interview Tuesday (I hope the meds don't upset my stomach and have to cancel. I can't think of anything more embarrassing than having diarrhea while on a job interview!!! I have always been sensitive to antibiotics since I am allergic to penicillin - ugh) and today was spent running around (with a lot of bad luck) to fill my prescription.

I do hope to get back into full swing in the next two weeks. You can't see, but I've gotten a scroll style x-stitch holder (valentine's gift from mom)! I like that I have more room to work with but I don't like that the tension can't always be controlled. It keeps unraveling and there is no horizontal tension.

I may be on hiatus until next week. Gook luck on your projects!

Keep crafting,

Nessa

Week Two Hogwarts Crest

Cross Stitch:

Week Two - January 31 to February 6

Everything is going swimmingly! Although I spent most of the week removing stitches or working on something else, I believe it is coming out quite well. 

I did have to go out and get more floss. I had to go to two Micheals stores since one ran out of Black. I was shocked since they have about six tubs for black and they were all out! But I eventually got what I needed. And my boyfriend didn't even mind! I think he enjoys going to the arts store just as much as me! He wanders around and drags me to different sections looking at everything. He's adorable. He's like a kid in a candy store!

In Other News:

I have signed up for my first official craft swap on Craftster! It's a newbie swap since it is my first and I am very excited to start! I have some ideas on what I want to try but will tailor it to my swap partner. I have until March 11th to send out my package so I will have to organize my time wisely to still work on my projects as well as this one. OOOH! I can just see the possibilities! 

I love the idea of craft swaps!

Keep crafting,

-Nessa

Deconstruction of a badger...

Not much work done on the Hogwarts piece this week. I spent all of Monday working on finishing the Tucan and Sam parrot piece and the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday working on taking out the grey scale stitches in my Hogwarts Crest piece.

I decided I like the piece with black and white for the animals instead. And let me tell you, trying to take out stitches in a 22 count canvas should not be taken lightly. I did a lot of work on my badger on Tuesday just to rip it out later that day. The greys started to look yellow and green and it was making the piece look odd. By choosing white as the fill in colour It really makes the other colours on the crest pop.

Also, I went out to get some white and black floss and bought a plastic tote for them. Instead of continuing on my project, I've been transferring my floss to the bobbins and then colour coding them. It's taking a while since I have about 60 pieces of floss and three different brands to wind and I don't want to mix them up! Another thing that's taking a while is to differentiate I've been making my own bobbin holders out of card board so I know which one is DMC and which one is Rose Brand and J&P Coats floss. I know I'll be using DMC more because the store close by sells these ones and most patterns use these DMC, however when I make my own patterns I'll choose the other colours to get rid of them and since I have more of a selection.

Back to winding, I suppose. And once that's done... I'm Going Back to Hogwarts!

-Nessa

...And Done!

Sam and Tucan

I've finished my tacky birds! Now I have no idea what to do with Tucan and Sam (they are respectfully called now). I was thinking either a pillow or making it into a purse or something but truthfully, I wouldn't use either.


Any ideas would be great!

On another note: I've been thinking about modifying Little Mojo's Hogwart's Crest pattern again. I'm not liking how the grey's are contrasting with the other colours. I am very partial to just ripping the grey's out and just filling the space with white. I'll continue finishing the badger and seeing if I like it and if not then I'll just go out and get some white and filling in the gaps.

-Nessa

Harry Potter Craft Madness!

Crochet:
I finally had a chance to upload my pics from Christmas of the Harry Potter House Scarves I made for my little cousins. Sadly, I didn't have enough time to finish sewing the tails in (there were 124 in total) for Christmas Eve, but was able to finish it for the munchkins in time for New Years Day. They were really excited and were jumping for joy at the sight of them! Glad my hard work paid off! They both asked for specific houses.

When asked why they chose their houses, the youngest said that Gryffindor was the best house because Harry Potter was in it and that it's the "good" house. The oldest said that she liked the colour green. Personally, I think the oldest didn't want to look like her little sister and what better way than to be in the opposite house. Silly monkeys!

Modeling the Slytherin Scarf

The yarn was really thick so instead of making it in single crochet (which would make it super thick and hard for the girls to move their heads), I decided to make it half-double crochet. Truthfully, I am falling in love with the hdc stitch.

I also designed the pattern myself. It wasn't that hard. I just looked up children's scarf lengths and got to it. If you would like the pattern, I'd be happy to post it.


Cross Stitch:
As for my cross stitch project, I've picked up a Hogwart's School Crest from the Leaky Cauldron's craft website (Link: here). My boyfriend and I went to the local Michael's for the floss and they had every colour except one. Slightly put out, we left with all but that one thinking we'd go to another one on the weekend.

Instead of spending too much time looking for DMC's 415 Pearl Grey, I decided I could wait to go to my mother's house and steal from her stash. That was easier said then done.

First off, my mom hasn't taken out her supplies in about eleven years and so the supplies were packed away in the basement. Second, she just re-arranged the storage space and had no idea where the totes were. Third, after going through the entire basement storage space (and getting caught in many spider webs and many scrapes and missing many avalanche close calls) we ended up finding her supplies in the first tote we looked in. Thankfully she had the colour and also gave me a lot of her bulk canvas (yay saving money).

Week One - January 23 to January 30

I have to admit, I haven't cross stitched anything since I was about fourteen. I've also messed up the pattern a few times already but I'm glad the mistakes aren't noticeable. What has helped a lot is that my mom came across a cross stitch stand for $2 at a garage sale. I've been wanting one for a while and have been saving up but since they cost about $60 it's taken me a while. Best thing is about this one is that it holds both the scroll style holders and the hoops. Thanks mom!


On Another Note:
Also, go check out Totallee's crochet webpage. She makes amazing work using a "crochet-by-numbers" technique. She's also a geek and loves Harry Potter. Check out her Harry Potter Bunch blanket. Beautiful work!

Until next week,
Nessa

Needlepoint and Nerdiness

Good morning Neverland! Well, afternoon, actually.

I've been busy crafting since my last post. After a four month long crochet binge my arms and fingers needed some much needed rest. I felt myself getting into a cross stitch/needlepoint mode with no supplies. I ended up digging through my craft supplies and found an old project and picked it up.

When I was about twelve (since I was still in my old house at the time) I picked up a really tacky needlepoint kit at a garage sale for 50 cents. It had two parrots on it surrounded in leaves. I ended up working on it for about a day or two and then was forgotten and misplaced during the move. I finally found it about twelve years later. (Man, I'm old.) Moving on...

PROGRESS PICS

I took pictures of my progress and I am glad to say I only have a small corner of the background to finish (yay)! I have no idea what to do with it since I think it is utterly tacky. I may turn it into pillows since as you know by now I have a very odd obsession with pillows. I LOVE THEM. I am currently using (and not for decoration) six pillows on my bed.

I have many pillows planned for my own place and most are geeky ones. I am not ashamed to say that I am majorly geeky and I am proud to show it off!

-Nessa xoxo

Crochet Pillow Cases

Hello all! I hope you all had an amazing holiday and that 2011 brings you many great things.

For Christmas I made a few crocheted pillow cases for my boyfriends mom and my two young cousins. I already have orders for more from other family members. I plan on making some superhero (Batman and Superman) and some Star Wars pillows for when I get my own place.

I may put up a tutorial if I get around to it and if anyone else would like one.


Below are some photos:

Tales from the Unemployed Graduate

Yes, it's been a year and a half since I graduated. What do I have to show for it? Fifteen extra pounds and a sleep schedule that rivals Dracula. I admit, I've had my ups and downs in life, but this one sure takes the cake (and I don't even like cake).

I'm in a rut. My boyfriend is off in Alabama working on a construction site so my only tie to the outside world is gone and my best friend is off in Halifax working towards her dream. As I've pined before on this site; what is my dream? It's hard being a twenty-three year old loser living in her dad's house sitting in fuzzy ducky pj's trying to figure out what she's good at in life. So boo-hoo right? I've been sitting here depressed (crying at times) trying to figure out what happened to that care-free, outgoing, fun loving comedian I once was just eighteen months ago. Seriously! What happened?!

The recession. Evil ex-bosses. Crazy overbearing family. Growing up. Graduation. Life. Life happened.

So why am I not currently living it? I've been searching non-stop for a job. Applying relentlessly to the point I'm losing sleep worrying over why I haven't gotten a bite yet. I love the internet craze, don't get me wrong, but when the entire world relies on applying for jobs online it's hard for someone to get your personality off a piece of paper. I miss the good old days when you had to go in person to ask for a job and drop off a resume. Nowadays when you try that, they tell you to go online. When you do that, you don't hear from anyone except for jobs that you are way too under qualified for. I applied for a job which was similar to one I had in the past and they told me I was not qualified for it. It was sorting mail. How under qualified can that be. I got another telling me I was overqualified for it. For answering phones. I don't care if I am over or under qualified for something. I need a purpose in my life other than just sitting in fuzzy ducky pj's blogging about how my life sucks right now.

I'll admit it. I'm an unemployed graduate watching Glee and America's Next Top Model re-runs to occupy myself until my muse comes back.

So I ask you this: if you see my muse, please send it back. I'm starting to feel like how Martha Stewart felt under house arrest.

Ravelry

I have recently joined a crocheting/knitting website and I am so glad I did. The patterns are endless. I have so many ideas on what to make and what to give for Christmas. I'm planning to make my sister a Tardis pillow (hopefully that works out) and my boyfriend's sister a Mario Luma plushie.

The Tardis will be a bit more intense as I would need to modify a pattern and find a pillow... but in theory it seems very doable. I also found a Tardis blanket that I know she'd love but it will have to wait until her birthday because that thing is MENTAL! and I would need to find the correct blue to make it.

As for boyfriend, I don't know yet. His birthday is coming up and he wants me to buy him his tattoo... but he says depending on the price he doesn't want me to spend too much... so perhaps a pair of NIN wrist cuffs. If all goes great with my sisters pillow, I may make him a Torchwood one. But I'm still working things out.

Now to think of things for boy's Momma, boy's father, boy's brother, my momma, momma's boyfriend, step sister (a cowl maybe?) and step mom. Oh and BFF (can't write anything here... she actually reads my blog). Dad won't like anything I get/make him anyway... so that one's going to be tough.

Right now I need to shower (got a temp job and start in two days) and finish spa treatment. Need to start my nails (painting them before bed) and then start the plushie. Need to start now before I run out of time!

-N