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Upholstery 101: Know when to fold

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I know I mentioned that the upholstery was slow going. Well, it proved to be a snails pace when I started to actually cover things. When upholstering, the goal is to first tack everything down so that it looks how you want, then staple to finalize. The tacks are super easy to get out and reposition. Except in my case, of course.

Turns out I bought super high density foam and that, paired with the fact that the plywood on the underside is treated with some sort o strange tar material (maybe it's a fireproofing material?), makes for impossible tacking. The hammer bounces all over the place because of the foam, and they don't stick when hammered in. If I did get some to stick, they just popped out the second I placed my staple gun down to seal the deal. 

Oh, how slow going it was! In the end I got so frustrated, I put down my hammer and just started to staple. That's a pretty huge no-no, but in the end I was surprised with how even I got each one. Definitely won't do that with future upholstery projects, but what's that phrase? Know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Yep, got it.

Cat Fancy

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Difficult to quilt while there is a cat wrapped in it

Another post dedicated to that ridiculous cat named Socks.

I learned quickly that I can't leave things out. Like, ever.

Thankfully she hasn't ruined anything!

The post I never thought I'd post

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Socks sits behind my machine while I sew
When you start a blog, you forget that you might have to post a few personal, possibly embarrassing things. You know, like how you have a Ren & Stimpy memorabilia collection, or that you really really love flannel sheets. Or that, if for any reason you find yourself alone in life, you will become that crazy cat lady.  
Don't get me wrong, I like dogs too. But when we first moved in together, the boyfriend and I decided to get a couple cats to come home to (as if we weren't enough for each other) and dogs just aren't practical for a New York apartment and lifestyle. Anyway, we love the little rascals. Their names are Socks and Fiona.
Today I'm letting you glimpse into the life of Socks. She's lying on her back on my lap as I attempt to type this, and she's snoring. This cat is ridiculous yet totally makes my day. She is always in everything. Everything! And I have about a gagillion pictures to prove it. Today's theme is the desk. It turns out that training a cat to not do something is quite a futile effort. 

But it's cool. I've come to grips with it. I've also invested in lint rollers. 

Audio Vole!!!

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Today I'm plugging my awesome friend's website Audio Vole. The purpose of their site is not to rate musicians and albums, but to promote dialogue about what's going on and who's who. It's a democracy, of sorts. It's pretty awesome. 
Oh. And I might have designed the logo so this is also a shameless plug for myself. But that's totally secondary. It's been a while since attempting anything graphic design related, specifically logo centric. I forgot how hard it is. Seriously. There's so much to think about, and even more that I don't know. So I dub today, Graphic Designer Appreciation Day and if you know one, pat one on the head and say, "Thank you. I appreciate what you do, and it cannot be done by all."

From aunty, with love...

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I found an awesome loop hole in the "Best Aunt" category. From now on, I will ask my sister and brother what their kids want after Christmas. This has great results for both parties: the kids get things that they didn't get but that they really wanted and I end up being the best aunt ever because I got them those items. It's win-win. It's brilliant. And on top of it, it's so overwhelming to open presents on the 25th, that to get another gift - and a gift you want, mind you - around New Year's is... well, it's like having Christmas twice. 

This past holiday, the stars didn't align. I tried my hardest to hunt down a sewing machine guard for my sister's machine. Her girls have been begging her to teach them how to sew except that her machine might take off the 6-year-old's fingers. Yeah, that would not be cool. Anyway, I was not able to find one for her machine, nor could I find a generic one. As far as my brother's kids, well, he never got back to me about what they wanted. So, I guess it's their loss. Kids, if you grow up and wonder why Aunty Tara didn't get you any Christmas presents the year of 2011, now you know. And now it's February. 

My sister had a sweet thought: her kids would be ecstatic if they received Valentine's in the mail from your's truly. What a great idea! The first thing that popped into my head was making origami hearts. But instead of paper, make them out of fabric. But I totally dropped that idea when I came across this origami money tutorial. 

And I thought how great would it be to get a small chunck of money in the mail in the shape of a heart?!? Um, I'd love to get that now, let alone if I was 6 or 9 years old!


So I commandeered some blank kitten cards that were lying around. I have no clue where they came from and they are so 90's ridiculous, on par with Ann Geddes baby portraits. Anyway, how else would I possibly use them except for nieces and nephews who still think a kitten stuffed into a typewriter is adorable? Another win-win!

 Then I added a simple message with different colored embroidery floss and cut a slit in the center:

 Then inserted the cash:

 And of course added a few hearts to the front to make them feel more Valentine's appropriate:

Voila! Valentine's out of kitten cards. Not meant to be a belated Christmas present, but a happy surprise on Valentine's Day!

Space - Desk Space - the Final Frontier

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As I get older, I have discovered a few things about myself. When I get sort of irritable, there is a definite reason for it and although this seems obvious to most, I now make a purpose of trying to figure out what the irritant is and then fixing it. The latter - the fixing it - is something I never really bothered to do when I was "younger" because usually the irritant just went away. Now that I live with my boyfriend and two cats, I have three entities that are always in my immediate vicinity and we occupy a one bedroom in Manhattan. I feel like that is enough said, but if you need any more clarification, 'it be cramped, yo'.

My boyfriend was kind enough to let me use his old desk as my desk. But it was a little too small to be a working desk:
(Little Socks in the corner is wondering where her favorite fireside chair went. In the living room, Socks!)

 As you can see, it's a bit cramped overall - all my weaving yarn was shoved into a couple shelves on the bookcase. And can you see the two bins under my desk? Those are full of fabric and other stuff. For me, out of sight is out of mind and I won't use it because I won't remember I have it. Not to mention it's hard to even use my laptop considering there's no where to put my legs! So in my ridiculous efforts to organize and rearrange, I decided to do a little IKEA hunting and came up with this configuration:

(I love that Fiona is trying to figure out the best place to rest her bum on the bed.)
Definitely less cluttered and I can actually see all the stuff I have! Oh joy! The table looks a little small in the picture due to the 360 stitching app I used (which is an awesome app, btw), but it's a good size (~30" x ~60"). And there's even a little space between the desk and wall to put the ironing board when it's not in use. 
Love, love, love! Time to start makin'!!

Organize, organize, organize!!!

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Is there something in the air? Am I just too hyped up on coffee? Why do I feel the need to organize and clean everything in sight? So this weekend, along with the curtains and windows, I felt the need to organize and take stock of my yarn collection. Oy.

In my ridiculous stash of "random things that can't go into the trash" I found an address book. An address book. Do you even remember what one looks like? Yeah, me neither. So if you need a refresher, here it is:

I think I purchased this at a Hallmark store in the mid 90's - thus the ridiculous cover and color scheme.  And the fact it has seen it's way through college and, um like, 6 different moves is baffling to me. I might recover it with some sort of fabric, but we'll see how ambitious I'm feeling....
Anyway, I cut up white card stock that was laying around into quarters, made a quick hole template and punched holes through all of the sheets:

 Then I took all of my yarn, made 6 strand samples of it and wrote down everything I knew about the fiber onto the cards, including random notes like the EPI pre and post scour (yikes!). Since I really didn't want to precisely cut and affix sticky labels, I took the lazy way out and flipped the dividers over, labeling them with basic categories: cellulose, cellulose blends, proteins, protein blends, synthetics, etc:

When I was done, I thought, "When am I ever going to use this? Was I just procrastinating?" But over the course of the weekend, I've actually referenced it several times. And it's been quite helpful. Score one for me!