craft

April 25th, 2012 - 
1 Comment

I’ve been sewing a lot lately, trying to learn through trial and error (and some book skimming and web searches) important things about my machine that I never bothered to learn the first time around. Right now the tension dial and unique presser foots are blowing my mind. You mean I can make a blind stitch??? And that’s what that stitch is called? I have a pair of pants I could have fixed with this stitch years ago but instead used a safety pin that’s been in the hem for five years. Insane, right? I need a woman to teach me woman things like this so I don’t have to learn the hard way, always.

Here’s what I’ve got on my crafting to-do list right now:

  • Finish my quilt
  • Make chevron quilt from blue jeans
  • Use beads for something that is not the worst
  • Make tap pants with scrap silky fabric
  • Make underwear/sleep camisoles from old t-shirts
  • Make bags from scrap tulle
  • Make new dresses modeled after worn-out favorites
  • Dye and re-hem some dresses so that I like them better
  • Throw out old sweaters and harvest their colsures
  • Make envelope clutches from scrap fabric
  • Knit many sweaters
  • Make resin molds for stuff, all kinds of stuff

I got an extra large BAGGU bag to hold my knitting and it is GREAT! I don’t know if they’re discontinuing this size bag or what, but all of their extra large zip bags are on the sale list right now and have been for months. I love it. The thin material keeps down bulk, but it’s large enough to hold a ball of yarn, finished pieces, notions, and everything I need to knit everywhere I go. I can take it on its own or throw it into any other bag or backpack I’m carrying that week, and I tend to change bags a lot. I love it so much! Under $7 even with shipping, I think, because of the sale. Yay.

I worked on a bag for an upcoming conference and we printed on the BAGGU Duck Bag. I’m optimistic I’ll get to keep one. I AM SO EXCITED! I want all the BAGGU bags. I do I do. Right now I want to buy three of the white regular-sized shopping bags but I have to wait. It’s not like a necessity.

I got some herbs at one of the annual plant sales on campus and didn’t go overboard this year. But! I was thinking. I should just get a grow light and go all out. Get some tomatoes and peppers and strawberries. I don’t get much sun at my apt windows and some of the plants I got, like lavender, want full sun I guess. If I can find a place in my apt for this I will maybe try it over the winter. This is like a crazy person’s idea though, right? I’m just toying with it right now. I don’t need to rush into a little apartment farm while I’m sewing and downsizing and doing everything else.

This is the last week for basketball. I’m kind of ready for it to be over. I’m looking forward to summer, a lot. I want to grill and cook so much and make so many things.

Posted in:
gardening, obsessions, projects

revisiting

April 10th, 2012 - 
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I had a smoking relapse dream last night. I haven’t smoked though since, I believe, Christmas. I think Christmas day 2011 was when I had my last. I haven’t even been making exceptions or anything. Unless you count last night in my dreams, I guess.

I was so worried about having to tell Adam, even though he doesn’t really care so much. I forgot about the dream until just now, and immediately that fear from the dream came back, but then I realized I don’t have to confess a thing because I didn’t actually do anything wrong. Which should be a relief, but I still have this guilty feeling.

Last weekend we went to Sioux Falls. We climbed on the rocks until Adam had a hilarious accident, then we went shopping for pants.

We also went to a D-League game while we were there and got upgraded to third row seats by Wilbur, the Famous Dave’s pig mascot. It was so great. The Quintuple-Double post documenting it will probably be my fave ever.

Didn’t see that many familiar faces around town, but we did run into my second cousin at Wiley’s. As luck would have it, I recognized him while we were huddled by the same window to watch a very drunk girl make a mess of herself on the sidewalk as her friends attempted to shepherd her home. At least something good came from her misfortune? I hope she made it home okay.

The most important reason for being home was having the opportunity to visit the house I grew up in one last time. The sale is pending and it’s going to a friend’s brother who seems like a real good guy. I’m very happy about the new owners. The house has had two sets of owners since it was built in the 50′s and it just feels nice in there. It’s a good home and probably where I learned to love small spaces.

Some people fantasize about buying their family homes and keeping them for generations. I guess I’ve had that thought. But it just doesn’t seem practical. Sioux Falls was such a bad fit for me. I really really love visiting but to live there and be a homeowner in that community would ultimately be bad news for me, I think. Trying to be creative felt like hitting my head against a wall and making friends was tough too.

The comic book sale started today. If you want in on it, let me know your email address. We still have a bunch left and I might have more to add to the list when I get home tonight. I’m having a hard time adding some of my Jeffrey Brown stuff and a few things I haven’t read yet but I know it all has to go.

Posted in:
basketball, family, general interest, Sioux Falls

campt

March 26th, 2012 - 
1 Comment

I’m getting used to my blonde hair.

I went with Adam and the cartoonists to a cabin in Wisconsin this weekend and a bunch of pictures were posted afterward that made me decide it doesn’t look as crazy as I feared. It looks kind of fine. It was such a change though! I maybe freaked out for a day.

Wisconsin was so beautiful! Surprisingly good weather for March. When we booked the cabin we really thought we’d be snowshoeing and sledding. Instead we went on long hikes, sat by a campfire, played basketball and didn’t even have to deal with rain. So much fun too. I love when we all get together.

I like this picture Jamie took during one of our nighttime basketball games — I think this is lightning. It makes me look like I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, which is basically true. I’m kind of skipping and also scooping up the ball from below? Tossing it into the air? Oh! Maybe I’m catching it? Anyway, it was fun! I had only played once before with Adam in a grade school playground with much shorter baskets but he and I did win a game together against two semi-drunk people and a child, so we can be proud of that.

A bunch of us went on a fairly long hike on Saturday. I only brought two pairs of shoes with me because I didn’t expect to get involved in much outdoorsy stuff  (I brought knitting) but I ended up on the hike in my “fashion” boots. I was pretty worried because I’ve had a lot of foot problems since September when I woke up the day after Jamie’s wedding with throbbing left foot. I’ve been keeping off my feet since then, for the most part, so I notice it less but unfortunately it hasn’t gotten much better. Usually after dancing or taking long walks I’ll notice the pain is worse in my heel and along my arch. Usually I wake up in the morning with my foot in pain. For short distances now, I walk on my tip-toes a lot. I looked up the symptoms and it could be one of a few things, but it hasn’t gone away on its own, so I have an appointment next month to look into it. I’m a little freaked out?

I feel so dumb because I distinctly remember being oh–so-drunk at the wedding, dancing all night, even with no one there with me, and some stranger saying, “Gee you’re really dancing all night in those shoes? Doesn’t that hurt?” but it didn’t then. I was drunk. But I should have taken it as a cue to take off my heels or sit or something. I think I’ll probably have to start wearing orthotics but I don’t think it will be anything worse than that, fingers crossed.

I still got to knit a lot on the trip and managed to finish the back of my next sweater after we got home on Sunday. Adam and I also went to a Timberwolves game that afternoon and they won and that was fun. And we sat around and watched The Mist and American Movie and Coven and ate Chinese food and then we both had nightmares.

Posted in:
adventures, bad ideas, basketball, friends, general interest, travels

BAGGU

March 6th, 2012 - 
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I LOVE YOU BAGGU.

It’s time I washed my little blue daypack, but it is absolutely my most favorite thing. I’ve been carrying it since the fall. I really want to get more BAGGU bags but haven’t committed to another style/color yet. I like their old style of backpacks, I might go looking for those.

I also like the zipper pouch sets. And the large and small reusable grocery bags.

Have I mentioned yet how excited I am for the farmer’s markets to re-open? I have a farmers market plan this year. I’m going to go insane with the cooking.

Did you know that Austin just passed a city-wide bag ban? You can’t get just a single bag for your items anymore, starting next year. You’ll have to bring your own or shop enough to use more than one. Should be interesting to see how they manage that. READ IT!

Posted in:
fashion, general interest

nothing

March 4th, 2012 - 
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Haven’t made one of these ukulele posts for awhile. Been out of the house a lot and focused on other things.

Call it a combination of obsessive American Idol watching (my friend made it to the top 24 but was voted off last week), an observance of Whitney’s passing, and the karaoke I sang last weekend, but I’ve had this song stuck in my head for days.

I’m exhibiting at the Chicago Zine Fest next weekend and for the first time in a long time I’m mostly ahead of schedule. I have two new zines, Lady Bits #1 and Great Stuff! with Lilli and Alexander.

Great Stuff! features pictures of items found in the apartment of Lilli Carre and Alexander Stewart from when I stayed with them for the Chicago Zine Fest in 2011. It’s 40 pages long, full-color, with a photo cover. It is the most exciting zine I’ve made design-wise in a long time. Lady Bits #1 features “girl talk” stories about beauty and boys and food and family. It’s funny and is maybe the best thing I’ve written in a long time. It comes with a free bag of cotton candy if you buy it from me in-person.

I have 12 copies of Man Up left, a ton of new greeting cards, and I hope to re-print OCD: A Workbook for Grown-Ups as well. I’ll also have my insults/compliments/advice vending machine. I have very few Quarter Life Comics #1 left.

This will be the first show I’ve gone to in at least five years where I’m not actively promoting anything other than my own work. Hopefully I’ll get some new minis to review for IndieReader while I’m there, but other than that, I don’t have any agenda for attending except to sell my own work. I’m so happy about this. I’m excited about Lady Bits in particular.

I’ll participate in a reading on Friday* with a bunch of other zinesters who will exhibit at the fest. If you’re around that night I hope you can attend! I’ll be reading the story I’ve titled “A Gift From My Past” that I read at the Paper Darts vs. Tangential smackdown awhile back and appears in Lady Bits. It’s funny and true and I like it.

Looks like I’m reading towards the end of the night. I’m scheduled 11th in a group of 13 headlined by Nicole Georges, whose work I really love.

*Friday, March 9th from 7-9pm at 826CHI (1331 N. Milwaukee, enter through the Boring Store).

Posted in:
comedy, general interest, reading, ukulele, zines

hardest day

February 16th, 2012 - 
1 Comment

I ordered a cotton candy machine last week and it arrived yesterday but there was a basketball game and I couldn’t start using it right away. I haven’t even opened the box.

Tonight though I’m making candy floss for hours, starting the minute I get home. I’m so so so excited and it’s tough to think about anything else.

I began flavoring sugars last week. This is serious y’all.

If I’m even a little good at it, I’ll register as a home processor this year and sell at Red Hot Art.

I’ve got this booth idea for the festival…I hope it works out. To have a carnival themed booth where you can win or buy stuff. Still planning that all out. Wish me luck!

It’s just that every time we go to Target Center I get so tempted to buy something. We walk past a candy store too, and that’s tough to pass up.

$2 for cotton candy at the store, probably  $4 for cotton candy at Target Center. Insane, right? Because I know now what’s up with cotton candy. It costs about .20 to make (very basic materials, not including machine costs) and I’m totally convinced it can be made better.

The grand experiment starts SOON!

Also! You probably can’t tell, but slowly I’m trying to dye my hair blond. Sad, right? Nothing is happening. I need to be a bit bolder in my dying attempts but I’m still afraid of dramatic changes.

I’m going to try to have a blond summer and then get a haircut.

Posted in:
food, obsessions

photo phun

February 13th, 2012 - 
1 Comment

Adrianne is having fun this week with her dad’s light set-up and got the party started with me and Adam as guinea pigs.

This was so much fun. And like a total pro, she got us the pictures in no time.

We took some nice ones too, but my favorites are the weird ones. HIRE THIS WOMAN!

Posted in:
general interest

PIN

February 13th, 2012 - 
2 Comments

All the ladies on Pinterest right now want to blow up balloons, glue stuff to them, then pop them once the stuff has hardened in a ball shape. (Even me a little bit.) Why? How could this ever be useful as a thing?

They also want to put labels on jars. Bad.

ELSEWHERE:
Started work on my DIY Malcolm Lee fan gear this weekend. Celebrated Britt’s 11 years with FAMIB. Watched the Wolves lose (twice!). Finished making a gift for someone ♥. Ate fro yo at the Mall of America. Posed in silly outfits for a camera. Ordered pizza from Galactic. Was exposed to Jackass. Etc.

Posted in:
general interest

taking a stance

February 7th, 2012 - 
2 Comments

Those cake pops? I hate them. I just hate them. They are the dumbest thing.

No, I have never eaten one, but I’m sure if I did I would hate its buttery thick moistness and probably spit it out.

Cake pops are the grossest worst thing happening on food blogs right now. I’m sick of looking at them.

Posted in:
food, general interest

Since Friday

February 5th, 2012 - 
No Comments

Debuted Quintuple-Double on MPLS.TV, watched movies, saw Chronicle, ate at Tibet Kitchen (not much has changed since it was Gangchen), visited the Art Shanties, watched the Timberwolves beat the Rockets, ate at the Moose, put photos on Flickr, returned Raighne’s video camera (pending), worked on zines (pending).

Posted in:
dancing, general interest, zines
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