http://lemonwoodclock.blog/2012/02/14/felt-piglet-tutorial/

I finally got my post uploaded, but because I had originally posted it as a draft, it is still loading as an older article. So, for anyone who cares to be notified when I create a new post, and because I’m not sure the way I did things did that, here’s the link to that post.

I’ve had so many annoyances with blogging the last couple of weeks! It’s primarily growing pains, because I’m learning to do some new things. But hopefully I’ve worked all the kinks out and things will go more smoothly in the future!

Today’s post will be delayed because I’m having blogging-program problems. Why isn’t blogging easier??

But when I do get this post up, I think it will be worth the wait, because it’s a tutorial with tons of pictures and hopefully a PDF pattern!

Here’s a sneak peak!

I’m going to try to revamp my site tonight! I haven’t had a way to jump to older posts, and I didn’t realize that until I started trying to find things for myself. It was a pain.

I’m going to work on the appearance a little and try to make it a little more functional. Just a heads up!

I wanted to drop a line to let you guys know I’m still alive 🙂 We’re still in the moving process. The never-ending unpacking stage. I can’t find my card reader to upload pix, which is a real bummer.

In the meantime, I’ve been stocking up on patterns from Hobby Lobby. Last week Simplicity patterns were 99 cents. This week it’s McCall’s.

I bought this pattern (2599) because of this post on All Buttoned Up. I’m very excited to try it, because it looks very versatile.

I picked this pattern (2363) because it’s super cute, aaaaaaaaand… it’s a pull-over! I love the idea of not having to bother with zippers and buttons 🙂 I wanted these 2: (http://www.simplicity.com/p-5005-misses-dresses.aspx and http://www.simplicity.com/p-5376-misses-miss-petite-dress-or-tunic.aspx) but they had side zippers! I really want to make comfortable clothes, and I’m just not sure a side zipper fits into that plan. I probably would have tried it if it were a back zipper, because those dresses are precious!

I’ve been searching for a promising jeans pattern. When I saw this one (M 5142), I decided to go for it, because the description said “slightly low-rise” and they looked fairly modern. Well, one of the styles did. Oddly enough, this pattern offers both cute jeans and ultra-high waist mom jeans… Oh, and I won’t be adding the goofy embellishments 🙂

I’ve also been looking for a very basic and easy A-line dress. This 1 hour dress (M 6102) looks exactly like what I had in mind.

Then I stumbled across this dress (M 6109) and thought it had potential for both myself and my sister. It’s a little different from other jersey knit dresses I’ve seen, so I’m excited to try it!

And lastly, I’ve been very tempted to get a coat pattern. I’ve tried similar styles on at Target, and I really this I’ll like this pattern (M 5714). I’m hoping I’ll have the time and courage to try this sometime in the fall! I love that this pattern has so many options. I think I’ll try view D, minus any animal print 🙂

Now, the real challenge is cutting out the pattern pieces. I HATE doing that. And Dexter makes it even harder. He gets very excited by the crinkly paper 🙂 I’ll have to get into the habit doing it after he goes to bed.

Hopefully my next post won’t be so far away and will include pictures, hopefully of awesome things I’ve made!

Crafting will be put on hold for a good week! Possibly more, depending on how long it takes us to get settled. We’re moving as early as this weekend. Everything is so up in the air. We have an apartment on reserve, but my husband still doesn’t know if he wants to live there.

So I’m holding down the fort here and trying to get things ready to move while he is working in Chattanooga. Hopefully the transition will go smoothly and I’ll be blogging about projects sooner than I think!

This is technically a test blog. I’ve moved my blog over to WordPress to get a few features I wanted and to update the look of my blog. I wanted something a little less busy.

Anyway, here’s a first look at my grumpy quilt I made a while back! I will eventually take better pictures 🙂 But for now a few blurry phone pix will have to do 🙂

This is my grumpy quilt.

I’ve recently come across some great sewing blogs. This week I stumbled upon a post about cleaning your machine… which made me realize I’d never cleaned the inside of my current machine. Which I’ve owned for roughly 3 years. Oops. When I opened it up there was a good quarter inch of lint. It’s now clean and sporting a shiny new needle.

I’d gotten used to my machine thrashing and bouncing when I sewed. Now I know it’s not because it was aging. It was just super dirty! It runs like nearly new after its cleaning.

If you can’t remember the last time you cleaned your machine, do yourself and your machine a favor… JUST GO DO IT!

Today I had to get fillings and Dexter got a flu shot. So the Robson household pretty much came to a standstill. The only thing I accomplished was tripping on nitrous oxide. I did also did some comparison shopping for Spanish language software.

I’ve been working on surprises for my twin nephews. I’m hoping to have them finished by this weekend, and afterwards I will post a tutorial. It’s been a fun and easy project. I’m sure there’s no need for the mystery, as it’s unlikely that my dear sister reads my blog :)… but just in case.

What a great idea for an easy-to-make bag! The project says it takes about 30 minutes to complete! Worth trying sometime 🙂 http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/quilting-for-peace-stitch-your-own-shopping-bag-5948/

So far, going through The Crafter’s Devotional has been a lot of fun. I’m on day 19 (I did a few days all at once in the beginning to get caught up), and it’s been quite an enlightening experience. Today’s task was to think about imagery that pops up in your work over and over, and then to brainstorm about possible interpretations. What I learned about myself and my artwork was quite surprising! They are things I knew, but didn’t realize I was expressing when I paint.

Overall, I’ve really loved going through the book. It’s making me explore crafts I’d never tried, and helping me loosen up and try new techniques. A lot of collage is involved, so one of the big things for me has been stepping outside my comfort zone and cutting up “cherished” magazine clippings I’ve been hoarding for ages. I’m finally doing something with them rather than just sifting through them occasionally for inspiration.

This horribly-captured phone picture is an example of a combination of a few of the collage assignments. I glued the images to a photo box top, and painted over it with varnish. The paper came out all wrinkly, which is regrettable, so I need to learn a better way to decoupage. I’d saved these clippings forever: the woman because of the amazing colors and textures in her clothes, the eggs (which came with the bird) because of the colors and because the eggs reminded me of some of my dripped grid paintings, and the pumpkins, birdhouse, and money jar because I loved the imagery. But without encouragement, I most likely would have still been staring at those clippings when I’m sixty.