Hello Again!

It's been FOREVER since i posted here. Mostly I have been concentrating on my parenting blog, as that is all i've been doing for a long time! at the end of march my son, Dylan was born and he has been wonderful!! He sleeps! and when he sleeps ..... I craft! Here is what I've been up to the last few weeks!

My new beach tote for taking the kiddies and all their crap to the many beaches near our house!

A nice little crochet blanket for Dylan ... it's more than halfway done now! The stitch is a diagonal box stitch.

Poor Neglected Blog

I've been very busy, doing a lot of crafting, but i have kind of combined my two blogs into one. My personal/parental blog is meshing with the crafty/arty side of my life so I am running ahead with that one. I am blogging EVERYDAY!! And so far keeping up with the new format I've set up for it. If you'd like to follow my crafty and personal adventures please visit Shoot From the Hips! I may write in here from time to time, but mostly I am now concentrating on the aforementioned blog!

Art At Last!

I actually started tow painting tonight! I really didn't think I'd have the energy, but Jack went to sleep so quickly that I couldn't help myself. Both painting have a long ways to go as I've only done one or two layers on each ..... but hey it felt good to be doing art as opposed to crochet! Alright off to bed!

Frog Princes

Here are the photos that we did of my little guys! I just love them and can't wait to get sewing. The steel wool at the top really helps to sharpen the pins!

New Pattern New Blog?

I am toying with the idea of abandoning this blog and starting a new craft related one pertaining to my etsy store. It would basically be the same, just called Jackaruu instead of forever ongoing. Not sure though ..... Anyways I've finished writing and testing the new frog prince pattern. I did a little photo shoot of the two frogs I've finished, but am not totally happy with the results. I need to fnd a better background or have my husband take a photo of them in my hands. They look cute with their legs dangling. Right now my husband is working on our kitchen reno and i am trying to keep my cool while hanging out with jack, though it's been rather difficult this afternoon. He has closed his room and is holding up in there with his soothers..... supposed to be only for nap time. I've got two baby blankets on the go now and am going to start a modile for our room/baby corner soon so I'm keeping busy. Okay gotta see what my little one is up to!

Ribbit

I've been working on a capelet or poncho type thing for our Calgary trip .... it feels great on, so nice and cozy! I realized while sewing that I don't have a nice functional (and cute) pin cushion, so I've been working on a frog prince pin cushion and drafting a pattern for it as well! Hoping to get it in the shop by the end of this weekend! I'll have photos up soon as I perfect it!

Baking

I've been doing a bit of baking. Just finihsed up at large batch of wee gingerbread men! Their faces are a bit crazy, but i am sure they'll taste good. Also i tried some embroidery for the first time. I used the blanket stitch to attach some circles to a dress, though I am not happy with how it turned out. I read that you are supposed to seperate the thread into 2 ply instead of 4 ply, but when i tried to sew with the 2 ly, it kept pulling apart and breaking! The 4 ply was too thick so for now i al giving up and going to re-sew the circles with my machine...... what a waste of time! Well, I suppose it was some sort of learning experience. Not too much going on otherwise, just a couple baby blankets and oh i crochet a toque for myself, which reminds me i need to put the tassles on the ties ......... it's a very cute earflap black basket weave pattern i made up!

Lots of New Stuff!

It's so hard not to post stuff, I just can't resist any more! Here are some things I've been working on! And one of my son and our crafting session .... making ornaments!

Quilt

here is my son's quilt that i am working on. also got a lot finished on one beluga yesterday! oh and a ton of little rattles! i am a machine.

The Dress!

I got some quick photos of the dress all finished! Mnd you none of me all gussied up with hair and make-up yet! i didn't use a pattern, just cut some rectangles and gathered here and there to fit me, then tried to sew an invisible zipper (huge disaster!!) so had my mom sew in a zipper then added some straps and tada! a maternity evening dress!

Busy Bumble Bee

I've been sewing up a storm lately! i've finished two elephants .... one of which is in my son's bed right now! The other is getting mailed to a friend's baby soon. Also I finished my leopard print dress for my husband's xmas party ...... it was a hit! I got lots of great comments on it! Now I am doing a couple crafts for xmas. I got a great pattern from planetjune on etsy.com for a baby beluga, so plan to make one for jackson and one for his cousin sarah. Then i have to sew on a couple cirle appliques to a dress and finish Jack's quilt. i am finally going to have a day to myself again when jackson goes to daycare on friday, so i should get some progress made. We only have 18 days left until our xmas travel marathon begins so I've tried to to give myself too much to do. I went to stay with my mom for a few days and made some fitted sheets for the baby bassinet that our new one will sleep in. What else??? that's about it for now! I'll get some photos on here!

Crafting but Silent

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I've been very busy doing lots of crafting. Finsihed a baby blanket, some baby hats, two polka dot elephants, a giant scarf, my dolls for the swap and my ATC's for another swap. Also I'm trying to work on a dress for an upcoming xmas party. these are the photos I have so far. oh and i'm still working on that baby .... over 1/2 way done now! i hope to get some photos of the elephants soon as i'm really quite happy with them!

finishing up

i'm finishing up a lot of my october projects already! I've completed the black apple dolls (pics soon!) and almost finished the baby blanket. I have to make a couple small things for 2 of the halloween costumes and design and sew mine. I have this weekend and next to finish everything up, so hopefully I'll get it all done! I have been feeling under the weather lately, and thought I was getting better until this morning...... so not sure what this weekend will hold for me!

Sewing Up a Storm!

I've spend two hours today sewing dolls for a trade. The pattern is fairly simple, but the tricky part is turning the dolls the right way after sewing. I added a lot of extra fabric, so my little creation got stuck in a very funny position! the first photo is my doll, half turned and the second photo is of what the doll will look like eventually. Here is a link to the pattern:

Black Apple Doll

The List

I seem to have lost my list on ongoing projects, so here is a quick run down of what I'm working on. It feels good to be back crafting as I'm feeling better!

black apple doll swap
baby blanket
toys for craft fair
halloween costumes (3 of them!)

everything except the toys, have a deadline in October, so I'm working hard to get everything finished on time! I'm especially excited about halloween!!!

Slacking

I was supposed to have completed much more than, however this is all i've got! it's a cute little dress i made for my niece. she is one, so it should fit her next summer. i tried it on my son, who is two and it fit quite well! i had to make it 3" longer than the pattern, so it covers her bottom properly. it's reversable too!

Bump Requirements

My little baby bump requires new clothes! I didn't want to part with my skinny jeans, so i bought some that were a couple sizes larger and ade them into maternity pants. they are now as comfortable as my yoga pants!! Here are the photos ..... i kept the belt loops! Don't they look like normal pants in the last photo!

Blisters

I've been crochetting so much I've worked up a blister!! Haha ..... I am getting ready to do a craft fair this fall so am trying to get at least three items finished a week. I am working on hats, scarves and wrap/scarves right now and when i am sick of those I'll move on to some cute critters! I haven't been able to take and photos as our camera is on the fritz, but soon I'll post some photos, even if it is just some work in progress shots! I ordered some business cards finally for my shop! They are mini cards from moo.com and feature different photos of my past creations. I am so excited to have real business cards! I've seen people that I want to talk to and give out a card, but I just feel so unprofesional having homemade cards! An believe me, my homemade cards are pretty bad! Anyways that's all that is going on right now. Oh my sister and I have officially quite her dress. It is a HUGE pain in the butt, so I think my sis is going to as my mom to finish it! Mom to the rescue again! My sewing machine is now collecting dust and I crochet my little heart out!

Mooooo!

Here is my barn and animal set that I finished for a swap! The barn is actually a bag to hold all the animals. It's my design, but not my idea. The woman who I was making it for picked it from another etsy shop. The cow actually turned out okay! However the goat is another story ...... i thought he looked pretty good until my husband asked if it was a rat!!! Do you think it looks like a rat?






Here is my barn and animal set that I finished for a swap! The cow actually turned out okay! However the goat is another story ...... i thought he looked pretty good until my husband asked if it was a rat!!! Do you think it looks like a rat?

the cow from hell

i am working on a crochet barn set for a swap and i've finished everything except the stupid cow. it's head is too small and i hate it...... sigh, i think it's time for bed, or maybe a martini...... i wish!