100th Post

This is officially my 100th post. Woo-hoo! I figured I should do something to celebrate with y’all. I really appreciate all of your comments. Although I don’t respond to each one, I do read them and they really make my day– I hope you know that.

As a present to you, dear readers, I’m giving away one Crocheted Hat gift certificate and one Button Necklace gift certificate to my etsy shop. The winner can pick anything  they like  from the current stock–there’s still a bunch of cute stuff in there. Just leave a comment on this post by Friday at Midnight mountain time (that’s 2 am NY time) and I’ll randomly generate the winners! Yay! If you like, you can say which thing you’d prefer, in case it randomly works out that you can have your cake (hat) and eat it too.

Also- I finally joined Ravelry. I’m still finding my way around and haven’t uploaded many projects, but I’m over there as Lindamade, so feel free to add me.

 

And, for photo goodness, here’s my finished wonky recycled bathmat. I love it! (Full photo here for scale.)

Exciting Announcement!

 

I lied, I’m back already, to give you some exciting news that’s been in the works for weeks. I’m now also posting on the ReproDepot blog to give you lots of fun fabric-related inspiration. I first met Djerba, the store’s owner, at Renegade Craft Fair a few summers ago, but I’ve loved her store for years. Can you believe it’s been open 8 years already?! It’s full of fun fabrics and lots, lots more- I hadn’t full realized till I did a lengthy browse, but she’s now stocking all sorts of patterns, kits, books and notions, too!

I put my first post up today– go check it out!

Crocheted Hats in my Etsy Shop

lindamade.etsy.com

I added several hats to my etsy shop today- some older ones are on sale, and then there are a whole bunch of new ones that I’ve been spending my time on. I’m especially fond of the birthday cake hats (above right)–they’re so fun to make because of all the bobbles and colors.

In other news, check out Diane Gilleand’s latest podcast on the topic of Craft Overload. She interviews several busy crafters (including myself) with some suggestions as to how to prevent craft overload in the first place. Personally, thinking about all of the projects I want to do plus the projects I want to pursue is making me a little dizzy right now. Head over and listen- Diane does a great job editing the shows and I am waiting for the day she’s on NPR.

Tiny Choices

Just a quick note to let you know about a great new eco-blog run by two friends of mine: Tiny Choices. Kari has always been my inspiration for doing little things that can help the environment (she composts with worms– in her apartment!), and the blog is about those things. Maybe we can’t do everything we should, but each little bit does help! It’s about keeping a box under your desk and taking your paper home to recycle (if your company doesn’t have recycling in place), using cloth grocery bags, or carrying your own set of silverware with you instead of using plastic. We can all start somewhere, and this is perfect inspiration! Kudos to Kari and Jenn. Maybe if enough people begin to care, I’ll finally stop getting weird looks at the grocery store when I bring my cloth shopping bags!

Helicopter Ride

Just an update to let you know that we didn’t fall in the East River. Hooray! The helicopter ride was actually much, much smoother than I thought it would be and we all thought it was really fun and worth the spendiness. The absolute best part was that it was private- no other tourists- and they didn’t bombard you with landmarks, just a few. You felt high above and close to the ground all at once, plus, c’mon,  it’s pretty cool to get to wear the headsets.

 

I can guarantee that’s going to be the high point of my week (no pun intended!). I’ll probably be slammed with projects, so if I don’t update before this weekend, don’t forget to stop by and say hi at Renegade. I’m coordinating some pretty great swag bags that we’ll be raffling off in the Adorn booth. Yay!

Fabric Shopping with Mom

As I might have mentioned, my mom is in town visiting for the week. It’s been a lot of fun, although I’m in the middle of many hectic things at the moment (my sister just left a few days ago, we’re closing the mag, Renegade is next week (come by and see me at the Adorn booth), plus freelance and personal projects galore, gah!) but we’ve been having fun.

First off, I finally gave in to the Katie Jump Rope collection at Purl. Side note: I’m feeling sheepish about going in there a little too often as the staff is actually starting to remember me.

My mom wanted to make me a throw quilt where I could choose the fabrics, and the pattern she had called for fat quarters. So, of course I already knew. I just went ahead and split the stack of 36 FQs with her and then convinced her to make me a quilt like the “Flock of Triangles” one in the Denyse Schmidt book. So yeah, there will be a lot of leftovers. The first photo is the quilt fabric- I chose the dots for the back and a bright turquoise for the binding, along with mostly red/orange/yellow fabrics and one blue.  And now I can play with the other ones! No more fabric buying for a while!

It’s been fun to have my mom in town, and talk to her about crafty stuff. We are both a little different in the way we craft, but it’s fun to pick out stuff for a quilt, especially since I know what goes into making your own. Here’s a gratuitous photo of me and mom, and the spicy egg sandwich I had for lunch today at the Sabarsky Cafe (before seeing the exhibit at the Neue Galerie).

Tomorrow we (+my brother) are going on a helicopter ride over Manhattan. You only live once, right? Which means I should get to sleep! Hope you all have a relaxing weekend.

7 Things About Me

Susan tagged me for this one: list 7 random things about yourself and then tag 7 more people to do the same.

1. I dressed up as a Dr. Pepper some time around 4th grade. I made the costume myself out of posterboard. I went to a haunted house in the neighborhood and did not fit through the escape tunnel so I had to go back through the entire house to get out, which was scary! Paul dressed up as a snickers bar, so I figure we’re kind of meant to be.

 

(p.s. The reason I have antennae is because they are pumpkins, and it was halloween, and I was in 4th grade. I couldn’t skip the pumpkins just because I was a Dr. Pepper!)

 2. I have a large birthmark on my lower back.

3. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I have a weakness for Bette Midler. When I was younger, I’d listen to songs like “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” in the tub and think I was really tortured. Hahaha!

4. When I get really, really inspired by something I’ve done during the day (Yellowstone, Denyse Schmidt’s quilt workshop) I can’t stop seeing things even when I close my eyes to go to bed.

5. If I don’t eat on a regular schedule, I get real cranky, real fast.

6. I grew up in Texas. I still say y’all sometimes. It’s a great word!

7. I just stumbled across a photo of myself at the Republican Convention of 2004. I was working for Newsweek at the time and being considered for a promotion to Publicist. I knew that job wasn’t right for me and everyone thought I was crazy for not taking it, but things worked out well in the end. I don’t really believe in “once in a lifetime” opportunities. (The specifics might only happen once, but that’s not to say that other great opportunities won’t come your way if you turn one down.)

I think everyone’s probably done this one by now, but if you want to do it and haven’t been tagged, I hereby tag you!