Philotic Web

I don't always carve pumpkins, but my friends all went picking and I had felt left out last year when I didn't get one, and it's dumb to let a perfectly good pumpkin go to waste.

So I made it video game-related.



It's a Gossip Pumpkin! It's also the first time I've ever tried "carving" a bit into the pumpkin, instead of just poking holes through. I consider it a moderate success, considering I have no serrated knives and did this all with a steak knife.

So, all you need now is to find someone dressed as Link or Sheik for Halloween, and you will have a complete picture.

If I whack it with a sword, will it tell me the time?

I am SO proud of our Halloween costumes (see Portraits thread). Got the idea from Jan, and pretty well modeled the skeletons on the one she showed me online, with some alterations. I ended up drawing the baby stencil three times, because the first two were GIANT baby. I love freezer paper stencils. SO cool. However, I hate spray-stencil fabric paint. Useless! Ended up having to take a black Sharpie marker to mine and draw over the places where it was too smudged. The overall results were good, though Got lots of comments, which was fun.

I guess I'll just claim that we're good therapy for birds with anger issues.

It is rather hard to be anything but happy/content around your family.

(Also, while I remember, even though it's the wrong thread: snow pictures when you have the chance!)

So i finally got a picture of my cousins' baby on the quilt I made.
She is so cute!!!



And I LOVE how the quilt turned out!!!

The backing fabric was SO hard to find I had to go to multiple fabric stores and noting looked right until I found this! and fell in love with the print.

What a great quilt!

*totally wants a fat quarter of that flower print*

So, this isn't anything new, this is from the craft exchange but I figured a year was long enough to wait to share it.

This is a glass bead sunflower (that I would be surprised to hear is intact still) that I made. What amuses me about it is it looks pretty bad from most angles but pretty damn good from a select few others. All the same, I'm pretty proud of it, mostly because, like my other projects, it took way too long to create. Hours upon hours of "sewing" the beads into a wire screen. It's a bit bigger than my head, I think, but it was fragile as hell once it was all beaded so I didn't try to do much with it after I first started.

It also served absolutely no purpose other than to collect dust but that's just the way I roll.

Perty!

I need Christmas craft ideas. Last year I made some awesome felt stockings. This year, I have no creative ideas whatsoever.

I got my magnet boards finished and hung up a couple of weeks ago.

How did you make those, Steph? They look great. Also, how useful are you finding them after a few weeks?

I bought these magnet boards from Ikea and covered them in pretty fabric and put on about 5 layers of Mod Podge (matte finish, sanding between layers to keep it smooth). Since they WILL get splattered on, I wanted to make sure they would wipe off easily.

I've been sick for the last couple of weeks, so I haven't been baking enough to know just how useful they are going to be. I have used them a couple of times for recipes and right now I have a picture of my kids with Santa and some snowflakes that Tyler made at school up there. Once I kick this cold and start into the holiday baking, I should be using them regularly.

I mostly like how they add some color and texture into my dining room. I have more of the same fabrics that I'm going to make (someday) a quilted table runner and a valance for the window.

Today I bought my MIL 2 sets of wood number 4 knitting needles and a blue yarn roll... bundle thing for Christmas. I wrapped them up with a card that said Merry Christmas on the front, and on the inside it said " Hoping you will teach me how to make a hat and scarf" (all in crayons and illustrated because she likes that kind of thing. I owed her a pair of knitting needles because Cleo thought one of her's would make a lovely snack (oops!) and I'm hoping to claim the second set as mine.
I have been having trouble bonding with her, sometimes I just feel like such a disappointment to her. I was discussing this with my mom and she suggested I find an activity, class, or something to do together.
So I'm hoping she teaches me to knit something I've always wanted to learn and hopefully we will grow a little closer.

So should I wait till christmas or just give it to her now because its kinda an odd gift, because it comes with a request for knitting lessons and most of it is for me to use (the second set of needles and the yarn.... What do you guys think??


Also it was VANA YARN I thought Kirsten would be entertained

covered them in pretty fabric and put on about 5 layers of Mod Podge (matte finish, sanding between layers to keep it smooth).

I may be doing this treatment to something next weekend, Steph; have any pointers? I've never done it before and it makes me a little nervous.

My biggest tip is to NOT use homemade mod podge. It was a disaster and ruined a yard of my pretty fabric.

Once I used real mod podge, it was really easy. It took some experimentation to get the folding of the corners to look right. Sanding with fine grade sand paper between each layer really does help with brush strokes, though not if they are too pronounced, so try and brush on as smooth as possible. Using a foam brush helps with this. Oh, and I used a cheap foam roller that didn't actually hold the foamy part on, so it kept falling off, so I'd recommend spending a bit more on your roller to prevent this problem. Or just use a normal foam brush. Sanding makes it feel soft and smooth and nice.

I'm excited to see your project!

I never even thought to try making my own Mod Podge but okay, I will not get curious enough to try that now. Thanks for the suggestions/info, though. I'm really nervous about ruining my fabric which would suck...I'm sure it's still available but I bought it years ago and I'd hate to have to go searching for more.

The real mod podge worked like a dream, so don't let my homemade horror story scare you!

I fail at brand name Mod Podge!

I haven't ruined my fabric but it's not as pretty as it could and should be anymore. It's streaky where I probably used too much as an adhesive.


Oh well. On to the next stage.

Not the best shots but it'll give an idea, anyway. My dining room table top (to be put on the base in IL):

Before:



After:



That's a green fabric I Mod Podged (very poorly, I might add); it came out wrinkly and darker than it started as but whatever, it has character. The guy I bought the table off of was so darn worried that I'd be disappointed when I saw the table in person; "It's not the best looking table but it's sturdy." Dude, don't talk to me about looks. I can make things pretty.

Very cool!

I looks cool! So the fabric wrinkled up, it's not just streaky?

Yeah, the fabric wrinkled and it has some dark streaks. I had it flat when the adhesive was first applied but it wrinkled with the sealer coats on top.

It still looks neat, despite not looking "perfect." Everyone who has seen it in person thinks it looks great, flaws and all.

its very pretty even not in person

Thanks :)

its very pretty even not in person

The woman speaks truth. I'm impressed. Wrinkles and streaks and all.

So, I'm trying to keep the heat lower to save on heating costs until we can afford to replace our 50 year old, very un-efficient furnace. This leads me to have a VERY cold nose all the time. I just crocheted a nose warmer and I am wearing it as I type and looking ridiculous. I can't believe that seller charges $10 a piece and has over a thousand sales. Wow.

If my grandparents' quilt machine is functional and I am productive in sewing on my binding, my Tetris quilt will be done in approximately two weeks. Two big if's there, I know. But it will finally be done!

But it will finally be done!

And then we'll see it and want our own, so you'll have to make more. Perhaps it's best to not finish.

I hadn't thought of that. Way to make procrastination even more tempting... Maybe I just won't show y'all a picture.

my Tetris quilt will be done in approximately two weeks.

I have to see this

Also, was I ever hear around Halloween last fall to show off the Stargate costumes that Courtney and I made?

No, but I'd love to see them!

You guys, I made hazelnut chocolate dinosaurs!

Dibs on the stego!

Those dinos are awesome! Dibs on the triceratops.

Also, if you watch/have watched Stargate you'll probably think these are awesome. If you haven't you may just be confused.

I haven't watched Stargate, but I'm still impressed. Nice work, you two.

Very Stargatey!