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Category: Crafts

Craft projects of mine

  • Episode III – Revenge of the Amish

    Okay, so my mom’s been a quilter for a long time, and now that she’s not working full-time she’s had time to start cranking out quilts for everyone in the family. She told me a while ago that she was planning to make a wedding quilt for Rodd and me. About six months ago we had the following phone conversation.

    Mom: Joe [her husband] and I were having an argument about your quilt the other day.
    Me: Really? How weird. [Joe’s not a quilter.] What about?
    Mom: Well, I had planned on making you a traditional-style quilt. But then we saw some Star Wars fabric in a store and he thinks you guys might like that better.
    Me: [I can’t figure out what to do! I mean, DUDE, a Star Wars quilt? How cool would that be? But I don’t want to disappoint Mom. So instead I just hyperventilate into the phone.]
    Mom: So I’m guessing you want the Star Wars thing then.
    Me: Welllll… What if you used the Star Wars fabric but still did a traditional design? That would rock!
    Mom: Yeah, that’s what I was thinkin’.

    So she started the quilt. I didn’t hear much about it except for the occasional disturbing “I don’t know if you guys are gonna like this…” comment. Apparently she spent the past few weeks pulling out all the stops to get it finished in time to personally deliver it on this trip. Last Friday as soon as we got them and their suitcases unloaded into the apartment, out came the quilt. Quite frankly, we were speechless.

    Revenge Quilt

    Isn’t that the coolest, evillest patchwork quilt you’ve ever seen? The fabric was apparently printed as a tie-in for Revenge of the Sith, though what they thought people would do with it, I can’t imagine. I took more pictures.Here’s a side view. According to Mom, she hand-pieced the entire quilt top and then used her long-arm sewing machine to do the actual quilting.

    Side view

    This is a close-up of the central star motif. As you can see, she “fancy cut” all of the pieces to center the printed designs within them. (She also said this was a total bitch to do because the fabric wasn’t printed evenly.)

    Central star

    Here is a close-up of the “Vader helmet” pieces. You can clearly see the quilting lines looping all around the printed designs. (I can only imagine how time-consuming that was.) The orange sections are even more heavily-quilted, though I couldn’t get them to photograph very well. She said she used several thousand yards of thread on the thing.

    Helmet pieces

    And here are the pieces with the scary, glowing red eyes. It took me about ten minutes to realize that the word “REVENGE” also appears beneath the gothic “Vader.” I told Rodd that every morning when we wake up under this thing, we have to enact the “Noooooo!” scene from when Vader wakes up at the end.

    Scary eyes

    Mom also likes to personalize her quilts in very subtle ways. In this corner, she’s actually worked “Love, Mom 2006” into the actual stitching. Can you see it? Another corner has our names.

    Love, Mom

    All in all, I can see where you’d think the quilt was kind of, uh, disturbing. Me, I love it. Mom wasn’t a huge fan though, so she decided to make the backing fabric something completely different (so that we could turn it over if we were entertaining someone who wouldn’t find a Star Wars Darth Vader “flames of hell” revenge-themed quilt as cool as we do). So she used a really neat print of Chinese cranes against a black background. Also, for the bottom thread of the quilting she used a metallic gold thread that goes really nicely with the cranes.

    Backing fabric

    I think Mom was well into the construction of the quilt before she started poking around on eBay and realized just how much Star Wars items go for. (I discovered this when she stopped complaining about the non-traditional-ness of it and started casually mentioning how many hundreds of dollars people would pay for “this stuff.”) But there’s no way we’re selling this beauty. I’m sure she’d be interested in hearing from anybody seriously interested in commissioning one though, so drop me an e-mail if you want.

  • Sunrise

    moblogged image

    Well, there we are… (minus Miss Fee, of course, who is taking the picture). As soon as we arrived this morning they told us that they weren’t going to be able to chat with us after all, due to time constraints. Getting bumped is now the story of my media career! (I suppose it’s to be expected given that my appearances usually fall under the category of “human interest” stories, aka “filler.”) So they stuck us in the same little room where we knitted with Nuala and cut back to us several times throughout the show. Apparently Mel and Kochie were arguing with the producers the whole time about coming up to see us, and eventually the “talent” won out. I got to sit next to Kochie! He really is a giant. (And no, he didn’t tell me about his Wednesday night adventures, Robert.) And that’s basically it. Oh, but that bit where they were marveling at the person knitting the “tube”? That was me, working on the Snook’s next sweater. So it ended up being pretty boring in the end, but we’ll see if we can’t get some video up for those of you who missed it…

    Update: The Snook just sent me an awesome screengrab. I actually look really good! It’s so weird; that’s not what I thought I looked like at all. I’d only glanced at the monitor and I think my brain filled in the details with my old self-image. That’s AWESOME. And man, I should get a commission for advertising those Crocs!

  • Marianne’s Cardy

    Marianne's CardyMarianne’s cardigan is finished!
    And it only took me two months longer than I expected. *sigh* Of course, that’s to be expected when you completely change patterns halfway through. After struggling through a fairisle cardy of my own design, I shelved that WIP in favor of something I could actually finish in time for Marianne to get some use out of it. This little hooded, cabled cardigan is my second project from Sirdar’s Denim Book of Aran Knits, and it’s knitted out of Denim Sport Aran (in “Purple Heather,” which has since been discontinued, I think). For once I didn’t bother with altering the pattern to knit it in the round, or make it longer, or switch anything around. Instead I just cast on and did exactly what the damn thing said. I was a little worried about the sad state of my mattress stitch, but luckily since I was mostly sewing moss stitch to moss stitch, you can’t even tell where it’s wonky. I made an excursion to All Buttons Great and Small yesterday for the buttons. Isn’t it cute? This was my first experience with both pockets and a hood, and I’m really proud of how well it turned out. I hope Marianne’s Mom and Dad like it! (Note: I deliberately knitted it two sizes too big. I figured she’d grown a bit since the last measurements I had – which were six months old by now – and this way she’ll hopefully get to wear it next year too.)

  • Knitting Olympics Update

    Cabled Cardigan for MarianneHow’s everybody been doing? I’m happy to report that Leonie (aka crumpet) has already won Australia a gold medal. So we’ve got one… and I suck. Much like Michelle Kwan, I crashed to the ice upon realizing that my program (finishing the fairisle cardigan I was designing for Marianne) was a little too ambitious and my heart just wasn’t in it. Or something. At any rate, I changed events halfway through the Games. (IS THAT EVEN ALLOWED? I’m gettin’ crazy, here.) My measurements are already six months out-of-date and winter will be ending soon, so the goal was to choose something pretty that I could crank through quickly. My eye landed on Sirdar’s Denim Book of Aran Knits, which I used last year for the Snook’s Looking Glass Jumper. And whaddaya know, there’s an adorable little hooded cardigan in there just begging to live in Colorado. As you can see at right, I’ve finished the back and both fronts (including pockets!), and I’m about halfway up the sleeves. So no, I am not going to make it in time to medal this year. But hey, if any of you want to have a Knitting Commonwealth Games, I am so ready…

  • For the fluffies

    This one’s for the fluffies: the knitwear of Lizabeth Oliveria. It’s pretty lewd – well, except for the Superman – and DUDE, it’s all mohair! (Link courtesy of SixDifferentWays.)

  • Giant knitted bottle cozy

    How come I never get commissions to knit things like giant Suntory bottle cozies?

  • It’s on!

    Just got the call from Radio 2GB. The interview is definitely on tonight! 7:20 pm on 873AM. I’m not skipping my damn meeting though; I’m having them call me on my mobile. 🙂

    Later: I did it! Felt like I talked a mile a minute, so we’ll have to review the tape to see if I’m intelligible. I managed to work in references to the shop (of course), Sydney Sity Klickers, Sydney Stitch N Bitch, and even Helen and Katherine (the girls spinning in Centrepoint). Snookums snagged a recording so we should have it up later tonight for those who missed it.

    Much later: Here is is! That’s a 1.2MB MP3. You know, my voice sounds really weird. I get such a mixed reaction to my accent these days – Americans think I sound Australian; Australians think I sound American. I can actually hear both in that clip. Some phrases sound almost Valley Girl (where did that come from?), while other words are almost Strine (like “bikini”). Mostly I’m just relieved because I sound a lot less dumb than I did in my head. I got in a few good anecdotes and I didn’t stumble over my words too much. (Though the latent high school speech team impromptu speaker in me winces every time I hear myself say “Um…”) Snookums and I listened to it, and I’m like, “I’m damned charismatic! Where’s my TV show?”

  • mx article

    mx articleHere it is. Not a bad picture in the end, though they spelled my name wrong, of course. (Trivia: He wanted Melissa and I to be sharing a laugh so at this moment we’re actually discussing her humongous pregnant boobs.) I also enjoyed the fact that – despite speaking to the journalist for fully ten minutes – they chose to use only one quote, and that was the most vapid, clichéd thing I said the whole time. (She kept asking me about whether knitting was “relaxing,” and in desperation I dragged out the old “knitting is the new yoga” chestnut. And I immediately felt like a tool. So of course that’s what they used.) I’d also like to point out that I actually said I “probably wouldn’t” be entering the fastest knitter contest (mostly because Rose Hill is difficult to get to when you live in the city, work all day, and don’t have a car). Oh, and I have no idea what that title means. NO IDEA. She didn’t get that from me.

  • Radio Interview

    This is just my week of total media convergence. I just got a call from someone at Radio 2GB who read my article in mx today (I haven’t even seen it yet!) and wanted to know I’d like to be interviewed on Murray Wilton’s “The Good Life” tonight. Sure, why not? I am the Queen of Craft this week, apparently. (Can you feel the momentum gathering? My TV show can’t be far off.) If any of you Sydneysiders want to listen to me make a blathering fool out of myself, they’re supposed to ring me around 7:20pm tonight. It’s on 873AM.

    Oh, and they apparently have live streaming over the Internet too, so you international types can have a listen as well… (Though of course, the Snook will be recording it so I can post it afterwards.)

    Update: Ack! They may have to bump me til tomorrow! I’ve got Fat Fighters tomorrow! Which will win out, my obsession with WW or my need for public exhibitionism? More details to come…

    Still later: I think I’ve been bumped. It’s well after the time they said she’d call and they’re on to the cooking segment. Damn. I skipped kickboxing tonight to be here by the phone, and now I’ve got to decide whether to skip the meeting tomorrow. I am officially bummed.

    Much later: That was the most boring radio show I’ve ever listened to in my life. I’m going to WW, celebrity be damned. They can call me on my mobile if they want to chat.

  • Sock Monkey FAQ

    I’ve just added some frequently asked sock monkey questions to address some of the responses I’m getting!