Crafting is such a great pleasure

I was able to spend today with a friend of mine creating our own coasters. Tutorials abound on the internet for any coaster you want to make.

I wanted tile so I bought stone tile for $3.97 for 9 of them (roughly one square foot size wise) from Home Depot last weekend then picked up some scrapbook paper, Mod Podge and other assorted materials and had a craft day with my friend T. The fatigues-looking one is for my nephew J, SpongeBob is for my niece K and the checkerboard is for me to take to the office in the morning and use.

Forgive

I'm working on this piece for my niece. She loves anything I make so I try to make lots of things for her. She is currently living with her husband in Italy while he is stationed over there with the military. Living in a foreign country isn't all it's roses. There's the language barrier and the rudeness of the Italian people against Americans. I find it hard to forgive the actions of some of these people and their treatment of visitors to their country. I would love to go back and visit her, but I don't know if I can.

So I try to make her things that will bring a smile to her face and give her a little bit of home, like the quilt I made earlier. I hope the next sixteen months go quickly and that she and her husband can be back home soon.

Inspiration pics

I have two thick art books that contain pictures I have cut out of magazines and printed off the internet of items that inspire me, make me smile, or that I want to eventuallly purchase one day. I may not get the exact item, but something similar is fine with me.

The pictures come from all kinds of magazines, from Country Living to Southern Living to Country Living (UK edition) to Fresh Home and many others. I now have subscriptions to all of them, since it is cheaper and I give away to my friend T who goes through them as well then pitches them.

I started putting them on the back of my bedroom door this year to be displayed. And I find that when I have a hard day at work, just seeing the items on the door can bring a smile to my face. I so look forward each day to coming home and seeing these. A few of them I have already purchased (book about Agatha Christie is one) and look forward to getting more.

new and unfinished projects

For the longest time the only craft I participated in was cross stitching. Then I found a pattern of a knitted scarf that looked like police line (do not cross) and that lone pattern started me on my trip to where I am now. I am knitting (slowly) and branching out into others, like sewing and quilting. I have completed one lap quilt, one wall hanging and made myself a pair of pajama bottoms. Work takes up a lot of my time and the hour drive to and from work (each way!) also takes up a lot of time. But I try to do what I can.

The knitting above will, I hope, be my first completed pair of knitted socks. If you saw my Flickr favorites, a majority of the pics are knitting related or craft related. I have learned that I need to do more craft work in order to get over the stress that comes from work. (More on this in a later post)

So hopefully I will be able to finish my socks and find some other projects to get into.