A Delightful Fall Witch Would Love to Come Live With You!

Counted cross stitch Fall Witch for sale!
I have put about 9 months worth of work in this piece.
The picture itself is 9.75" by 12.75"
I am asking $45 unframed and $75 if you would like me to frame it.
Shipping can be worked out if necessary.

Comment here if you are interested and please feel free to share the link with anyone you think might be interested.

I still have quite a few homeless Spartans still... just sayin.
Also, keep an eye out for new and exciting crafty things for sale from your favorite Crazy Crafter ^_^
~Me

Spartans! Move Out!

I started this ridiculousness in February of 2011... that's right people, 2 years and 7 months ago.
August 2011 I found out I have a Ganglion Cyst at the base of my left thumb and it gets larger the more I crochet, that put a bit of a kink in my plans, but I persevered (because I can be kinda dumb) and then about a year after I started I was a bit sick of making the same damn thing over and over, in part because my hand hurt ALL THE TIME and I was facing potential surgery on my hand if I didn't lay off the crochet a bit. I had to make a choice and I choose to move on to less harmful things.
I skipped a few numbers, determined to make all the ones that people had claimed, but eventually life took over and crafting much of anything got moved to the back burner.

Life has sort of settled down... sort of... and I am feeling the urge to start up the Spartans again.

I think it's time for this first bunch to go to their homes to make space for another batch. That's right! you read that correctly! I decided that I don't need one large photo, I'll take pics of the groups I create and then just photoshop them together or something.

Here is batch #1!

There are 61 pictured, though I have 62 completed, #27 already went to his home.
I skipped several towards the end of this batch. These are numbered 1-26, 28-60. 68-69

Now for the list of lucky people who's Spartan is ready to go home with you!
#7 Denise King (Mum!)
#10 Dan Carro
#11 Kevin Okure
#12 Mimi
#13 Aquino
#14 Shelly Gore
#16 Megan Yenter
#17 Blue
#18 Kellie Walker
#22 Anjile Newbauer
#24 Allyson
#28 Ben Haight
#29 Sara Haight
#30 Ted
#32 Kara
#37 Rachel (sister)
#42 Chris Hornbuckle
#43 Kari Giles
#48 James Tustin
#52 Sami
#54 Liz (sis-in-law)
#59 Gary King (Da)
#68 Mary Dane

If you would like to adopt one of the orphan Spartans, please let me know!

Now for honesty hour.
Part of the reason I decided to do this is I spent 2 and a half months unemployed this summer so that I could fulfill my dream of becoming a yoga teacher and in just the last week I've had 2 sewing machines go boom on me, to say that I am broke is a vast and hideous understatement.
To cut straight to it folks, I need help of the monetary persuasion.
For each of these little guys to go home there will be a $1 minimum "adoption" fee, just a dollar folks, that's all. If you should find it in your heart (or wallet) to give more the suggested donation is $5, but don't let that suggestion stop you! Please feel free to give as much as you feel your little piece of crafting history is worth *wink wink nudge nudge*

I do have a paypal donation button or when you meet your Spartan cash works too (I'll even take quarters)

Those of you who know me well know that this isn't easy for me, asking for help with anything let alone financial issues has always been hard, but I have come to a point where I have to do something to stay afloat.

Thanks everyone!
Much love and craftiness
~Me

A Flare For The Piratical

I seem to make a lot of pirate garb. I dunno why, but people come to me for piratey clothes.
The most recent was a friend of my mother needing a pirate costume for a work function, it was actually a lot of fun to go shopping for fabric, we found some wonderful fabric for the coat she wanted, I would call it Pirate Chic.

There were 3 pieces to this commission; a shirt (ruffles and lace included) a coat (tres chic) and a head wrap (with beads)

The shirt was easy, I have a good old tried and true pattern that has not failed me yet.

I have a very tiny bit of this lace left over, I really want to find something to put it on.


The head wrap was simple because it was a rectangle with beads on the ends.

But the coat, the coat was a different beast entirely. This is the base pattern I used...

But it was lacking a collar, so I melded it with this pattern...

it is (unfortunately) a Vogue pattern and so was a bit of a pain to blend with the coat pattern. In the end though I made it work and I'm quite pleased with how this piece turned out.

I think this is one of my finer pieces, the weight of the fabric (or rather lack of weight) and the blending of the patterns made it a challenging piece and it's usually the pieces that I want to throw down in frustration, that I end up being the most pleased with.

Happy Monday all!

P.S. Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Does This Make Me A Bad Person?

Before I address the title, I have a few other things for you.

Not the most crafty of crafts, but I think it still qualifies. It has become a tradition for Matt to get me a new jigsaw puzzle each year for Christmas. Starting in 2008, he got me a Fairytale puzzle that had all the Grimm's fairytale characters on it in sort of a "Where's Waldo" format, it was 1500 pieces and it took me 2 weeks of working on it everyday after work.
2009 he got me a gorgeous castle scene, with forests and snow and mountains... absolutely beautiful. It is a 2000 piece, I haven't ever finished it because of the forests and snow and mountains. (I told him not to do that again)
2010 it was a lovely fairy lady, it's a 1000 piece and I haven't finished it yet because of lack of time and helpful cats are not helpful.
2011 he got smart and found a 500 piece puzzle for me (just the right size for quick but challenging) it is a Carnivale mask and had enough detail to make me work for it, but I could still enjoy it quickly.
He also got me a puzzle mat, so I can roll it up and get it out of the way when I'm not working on it.
I had to share the pretty with you.

I do believe I promised you Spartans this week, I know I have been slacking on getting them up, but I should tell you life has been very very busy. Work is kicking my ass good and proper and when I get home, if I have any energy I workout and then I work on the current commission I have and then I sleep (if I'm lucky)
I do have Spartans though, I stayed up late last night to finish them for you (you're welcome)
So I have for you, the first in the "I'm only making the ones that are spoken for" series.
68 and 69 (hehehe)

68 is going to Mary, his name is Donny (lol, I had to)

69 (hehehe) is going to my friend Rachel, who was lucky enough to claim him first, about 5 people asked for this number after she did. His name is Caligula (because why not?) and this Spartan is the reason for this blogs title...

oh yea... I went there. And just for the record, that is a flogger he is holding.

aaaaaaand on that note I bid you good day





I said good day!

Useful Crafting

Through out the holiday months I made a few functional crafty bits that were not holiday related and so, did not make it into the blogs.

First we have my Dish Washing Glove Hanger (mental note; come up with better name...)

Don't you just hate it when you put on you glove to wash dishes and they are wet inside? Well I do too! So I came up with a little spur of the moment "I'MSOSICKOFTHISSHIT" solution...

I happen to have cabinets directly above my sink so any water that got inside can just drain into the sink. So far it has worked perfectly.

 (yes, that is in fact my stove in the background, my sink faces a HUGE window and all I could get was a bad shadowy picture of it hanging where it belongs)


Next I have a hanging pocket for my sewing scissors (mental note; think of name for this...)

Don't you just hate it when you knock your scissors off your sewing space and they stab you in the leg? or worse, the foot! Well I do too!!! I came up with this, also spur of the moment, when I should have been sewing on something else, but kept losing/knocking my scissors off onto my leg.

I even added some pretty to it, because I could.


And now for something completely different!

I saw an article for a thing called a Counting Bracelet, it is to help you keep track of your calories for the day, each bead is so many calories (50, 100, etc) and you move the charm around the beads as needed (think of it as the dieter's prayer beads) I took the concept and ran with it. I made a necklace, that can also be wrapped twice around the wrist for a bracelet, and made several charms.

I have one to keep track of how many days I do my workout; one to keep track of how many days I get some hooping in; one that was originally going to be for WW points, but I'm using to keep track of how many days I've tracked my food; and one to keep track of how many cups of water I've had in a day.

This is the workout one

Food tracking, Hooping, Workout, Water

These are all things I had on hand at the time, which I think is both cool that I can do that and scary that I have enough crafty shyte to do that.

Unfortunately I don't have Spartans again today, I went to a gathering last night and took everything with me to make them while there... except I forgot to grab stuffing. So definitely next week I will have some for you.

Happy Monday all!

The Big Announcement Of DOOM

Ok kids, this is going to be short and not so sweet...

I'm sure when some of you heard about this project you said something along the lines of "really? I don't think you'll finish this project" and to that I say, thanks so much for the vote of confidence.

Well you just so happen to be correct in thinking that, because I have decided to half give up on the project in favor of doing other more exciting things (like dancing and making a Nac Mac Feegle and other things out of my many many crochet books) BUT what I have decided to do is to make all of the numbers that have homes and take a picture of the impressive hundred-some-odd Spartans I would have made at that point. SO if you have chosen a number, hooray for you, you'll still get it; if you haven't and you want a Spartan, I will be posting a list of all the currently made homeless guys and you can take your pick from them (I might even change the weapon upon request and donation... or just donation)

I have grown weary of making them already and I'm not even at 100. I knew it would be hard to remain focused on this project because I like variety in my life and crafting, I just didn't realize how FRIGGIN SICK OF THESE LITTLE BASTARDS I'D GET...

*ahem*


Now if you'll excuse me I have a commission to work on.

Happy New Year Everyone!

After Christmas Catch up

I couldn't post about this before Christmas, because it would have spoiled the surprise.
I have found a craft that I kind of fail at. The Home Made Snowglobe...

I decided to make Matt a snowglobe for Christmas, because he doesn't have one; you heard me, he doesn't have even one snowglobe. So I went about collecting materials for this thing (you know it is REALLY hard to find a jar when you actually need one) I found a sauerkraut jar, a bear toy, some glitter, and some crazy explody glue and started gettin crafty.

The first bit went ok, the glue expanded and took the glitter well to look like snow around the bear, I let that set for a while (read as more than a week because I procrastinated and also because Matt was always around) and ended up taking it to work to finish it because it was the 23rd and I had run out of time to get it finished at home.

I boiled the water

I cooled the water

I poured the water in the jar

I dumped the silver glitter into the jar to be the snow... and it all floated on top of the water.


damn


so I scooped all of the silver glitter off the top of the water (except the few pieces that didn't float) and used the rest of the white glitter for the "snow" and then came sealing the lid (dun dun DUUUUNNNN) this is where it went bad, I put glue around the inside of the lid and then also around the outside, I didn't realize the glue would break free from the lid inside and stick to the bear's face... and then the glue on the outside went all crazy and expanded like whoa and glues the jar to my desk through a paper towel... Goo Gone is my best friend.

I finally got all the extra glue drippings off (mostly) and attached the base and gave it to him when I got home from work because I didn't want to put the still sticky glue in my bag to sneak it inside.

without further adieu...

 Stuck to his face!

Now for the Spartans

#s 58, 59, and 60

58 is named Karanus and he is homeless, the poor little guy

59 is named Padronis and is going to my dad

60 is named Hilarious (oh yea, I did that) and he too is homeless

Welp that's all folks, tune in next time for The Big Announcement Of DOOM

Crafty Christmas Corner Part 3

The Me Edition

I've shown you awesome craftiness that spans the generations in my family and now I get to show of some of my own. It's not my most impressive works, but I give away most of my really good pieces (I can't help it, I love my friends)

I have a few cross stitched ornaments I've made over the years; starting with this tree

I think this was one of the first ornaments I made, I really don't remember (it was a long time ago and I've killed a few braincells since then)

I remember finishing this picture and going "now what?" I kind of cobbled it together with the hanger from a different kit and got this ornament

(really wish I had dated these things...)


I was given these kits for snowmen ornaments done on plastic canvas and I finally got around to putting hangers on them this year

aren't they precious?

This year's big project was a wreath for our door, we can actually have decorations for the holidays of the year because we actually have a place to store them (such a novel concept) so I got an old wreath from mom

and took all the bits off of it (it was all in bad shape) and went shopping for new bits to make it pretty again

I've made wreaths for mom before and always used a metric feckton (technical term) of hot glue on the adventure. Well living in TX is not conducive to storing things held together by hot glue, it really does get hot enough here to remelt the glue and screw up your decorations. So I decided this time there would be no hot glue and surprisingly, it worked.

I started with the ribbon, wrapping it in the branchy bits of the wreath and making a big bow (oh yea, I got skillz)

and then began adding things from there until it looked full enough

 some of this and a little of that and a huge poinsettia, per Matt's request.

 wiring everything in place instead of the gluing, there were many pricked fingers by the end of it

and then I wired it to the door and we stood outside in the evening in shorts and tshirts, bare foot, in the middle if December and admired it.

ooooooooh
aaaaaaaaah

I kind of adore it really

anywho, I have no Spartans today, I will try for a mid week post with just the little guys, but between work and this week being a beetch and drinking far too much this weekend (don't judge me) I wasn't able to get them together, even with the 2 and half hours I spent in Starbucks crocheting yesterday morning.
Oh how I wish I still had that little bit of lead I lost, alas...

Have a good Monday everyone!

Crafty Christmas Corner part 2

The Grandmother Edition

Apparently the craftiness runs on both sides of the family, I have for you today a few ornaments made by my mother's mother (the same Grandmother who painted the owls from a previous post) She used a jigsaw to cut them out (not sure if they are her designs) and hand painted several hundred of them over the years, pretty much everyone in the family has at least a few of them. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a box of unpainted ornaments and last year painted a few of my own and spread them among friends, I still have quite a lot left too (I'm sure I'll do something with them eventually...)
without further adieu...

The little soldier boy is one I have blanks for, I think I even painted one last year. I know I have more on my tree, but I couldn't find them (I like a full tree)


The other item I have for you today is a ceramic snowman, this was made by my Great Great Grandmother on my Fathers side, her name was (I shit you not) Daisy Dearing and I have been told she was a brilliant artist, especially with ceramics, and a mean ole bit..... uh biddy... yea biddy was the word my Great Grandmother and Grandmother and Father used. Right, anyways, here it is

I think I have another piece she made, but I'm not certain if it is actually something she made.


Now for Spartans, I have 55, 56, and 57. All are homeless and unclaimed.

55 is named Numerius, he has a petite shield because it was the last piece I made one evening and I was tired and didn't start with the correct number of stitches but made the shield like normal, this resulted in the smaller shield. This project is not about perfection, so I left it as a piece to be used, I think it's cute and it makes this otherwise unremarkable Spartan a little unique and comical.

56 is named Claudius (I love his quirky smile)

57 is named Ovidius

welp that's all folks, see you next week!