WIP Wednesday

I have another knitted WIP to share here today and this one is very special....but not in a good way, or maybe it is - well, judge for yourself.

What's so special about this? I can hear ye ask....well, for one it is the THIRD time that I am following this particular pattern. I did finish it as well way back in 2008, but as I was really huge at the time I had to frog it and start again to finally finish it in 2009 after I shed lots of weight.

 I think I have a thing about green..when it comes to this dress.

(the blog post about it is here if you fancy reading it...but you will need to scroll a bit down).

When I finished it the second time I never really got to wear it because I was still loosing weight and it just did not look right. I was in no mood to frog it again and just gave it to the Charity shop. It was actually placed on display in the front window, which made me kinda proud. When I came back the next day to take a picture it was already sold....at least it went to good use as someone must have like it!

But I digress and my story doesn't end here just yet.

Last November I started on a jumper with my Rowan Handknit Cotton (which I am now using for the above WIP), the beginning of which can be seen here. I got right to the last bit when I had to combine the left front panel via a cable pattern with the right panel. After four failed attempts I gave up and frogged it.

At the beginning of January I asked here what I should be doing with my Rowan Handknit Cotton, as my first attempt of a shrug ended up being frogged - again.

So, I started working on the second pattern listed which I saw through until it came to the first front panel - no matter how hard I studied, it did not make sense at all and the front did not correspond with the back.

Naturally, I frogged it.

Next victim, a cardigan - frogged.

Then another jumper - frogged.

A sleeveless vest - frogged.

So, I am truly hoping that this time I am seeing this project through - at least I know that the pattern is easy enough for me to follow as I did it before, but I think for some reason I am jinxed with this particular yarn.

If this attempt does not produce something worthwhile I am going to banish that yarn from my home!

Check out some other WIP's - which I am sure are much more likely to become FP's than mine, over at Tami's blog.

The Movies we watched in February

More as a reference for myself I have decided the list the Movies we watch on DVD during each month. It will be interesting to look back at the end of the year and check which ones we watched more than once.

In February we have been watching quite a few, probably because we had two pizza nights this month. Usually we have our pizza/wine/Movie night every other month but for some reason we were greedy this time around, so more Movies to watch:)

The Wild Geese

Mercenaries sent on a mission to South Africa to free a former imprisoned leader. I love it when the team is selected and trained into shape. There is of course the underlying issue of black vs white but it is done in a very subtle way and does not overwhelm the action. Quite sad towards the end when those characters die  which you have grown to love.

Smokey and The Bandit

This is our ritual Movie to watch on a pizza night and it never ever gets boring. It has some of the funniest quotes thanks to Jackie Gleason who plays the ever so politically incorrect Sheriff Buford T. Justice. He makes that movie for sure and the theme tune is one of my favourite ever.

A Bridge Too Far

A star studded action packed war Movie. I really like films about WWII if there are done like this. There are a few jokes here and there as well. What I like most about it is that the action scenes are real and not a hint of all this CGI shit which overwhelms and ruins modern day movies. When you see all those paratroopers dropping from the sky - they are real and not computer generated. The explosions are real, the aircraft taking off are real and it is filmed on real location rather than in front of a blue screen.

Smokey and The Bandit II

Another pizza night Movie. The same applies as for the first Movie - the lines are funny and still politically incorrect and the theme tune works perfect.

Postmortem

Being a life-long Charlie Sheen fan I am currently stocking up my CS Movie collection and this month I went for Postmortem as the synopsis sounded really interesting.
Uhm, yeah...interesting is not the word I'd use to describe this movie - w-e-i-r-d would be more like it.
Well, I have seen worse films but I have also seen tons that are better. Needless to say that I am not going to watch this one again

Battle of Britain

Another WWII Epic with quite a number of big name stars but this one somehow bored me. It was more a factual chain of events close to a documentary rather than telling the story. You did not get to know any of the characters closely as you would normally do, so I couldn't care less what happened to them during the course of the Movie. But the aerial shots and fighting scenes were outstanding.

Kelly's Heroes

This is my all-time war Movie of all times. The title song is brilliant and you can't help singing along after a few chords. The story itself is so far fetched that it makes it great again - some bored GI's decide to clean out a bank in France behind enemy lines, which is stacked with gold bars worth 16.9 million $$. The way they go about it and the niggles amongst them makes this a must see. Another star studded Movie, which also doubles as my favourite Clint Eastwood Movie of all times.

Crochet - Free Jumper Pattern

Recently I came across this cute free pattern for a pineapple style top.

I can see this working in finer cotton too, kind of lacy and delicate,no?

The same site also featured a free pattern for wristlets -very cute!

WIP Wednesday

In case you were wondering - yes, I am still crocheting and knitting but for the last couple of  months have never taken the time to really take pictures of the progress or in fact the end result.

Most of the time my FP's merge straight into my everyday use, that I forget I should really take a picture. But sometimes that is actually a good thing because a lot of my FP's get frogged after a wear or two and end up being something totally different...but more about that in detail another day.

Let's see what I have on my hooks'n'needles right now.

First I am blocking the back part of a cabled vest, the free pattern can be found here 

I never used to block any of my knitted or crocheted projects before but for 2012 thought I give it a try seeing that everyone who blocks, states that is makes the garments look so much better.

With the left over yarn for the above vest, I started to crochet a number of squares which I am going to turn into a light scarf and it is quite obvious to see the difference between the blocked and the unblocked square:

Last year I would have just stitched the unblocked squares together and be done with it, but not anymore.

The only thing that bugs me to no end about blocking is the time it takes - at least 24 hours after you pinned and I am not the most patient person in the world.

The pattern for the above block was taken from the following book:

Source: Amazon

Check out some more fabulous WIP's from crafters worldwide on Tami's blog

Crochet Art - Marcel Wanders Design

Oh how I drooled over this the other day

image taken from: http://www.bonluxat.com/

I want a little side table like that one now....and the mind starts racing, plotting, wondering.

I am also loving this beauty

image taken from: http://blog.worldinteriordesignnetwork.com

but I think that one is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out my league for a possible attempt to try and copy it for the home :)

By the way the designer of this crochet awesomeness is Marcel Wanders and I could get lost on his website. That dude's work is totally up my alley

Righty-o

Ok, I admit that I have been extremely lax about posting on my dear old bloggy, but as I said previously HERE in 2012 I focus on getting the priorities in life back on track.

Whilst I am not doing so good with the healthy living due to some unforeseen issues involving possible surgery during the year, on the "I am cutting down on internet time" is going swimmingly.

I have to admit that the latter is thank to the most wonderful and most understanding manufacturers ever, who agreed to release me from my contract early.

A mega THANK YOU goes out to Donna Salazar Designs and Gel-a-Tins stamps.

I tried so hard to continue with my projects until April but I have not been able to create anything since December (yup, the stuff you have been seeing on my blog for the past months is old :))) )

There is no passion left whatsoever for my old obsession and I just know the time is right to stop it altogether now. 

To be honest, it has been so rewarding not working to deadlines not having to venture into my craftroom every spare hour I had. Nowadays, Mr P and I do so much more together and I am so much more relaxed and happy.

So, I still crochet and knit and I will still share some posts here on my blog, but other than that my online time is done, and I am loving it :)

FOCUS 2012 is a go-go and I know only good will come off it.

Donna Salazar - February DT - Pt I

Good morning all, this is Kim S. to post for Donna Salazar Designs showcasing a card made with Donna's awesome stamps, produced by Art Gone Wild

First I prepared the background by spritzing a piece of manilla paper from the new Mixed Media Stax pad with Smooch in Cashmere and Holly Berries.
Once it dried I randomly stamped the branch motif in two different colours along one corner and finished it off by embossing two branch motifs in white.

Previously I stamped the Queen Bee motif twice onto a scrap piece of the manilla paper with Mixed Media Inx, hand cut the images and added some glitter to their wings.

With the aid of adhesive foam squares, I raised the bees from the background and added the sentiment using Donna's Alphas and Jenni Bowlin stickers.

Products used

• Papers: Donna Salazar for GCD Studios - Mixed Media Paper Stax, 
• Mists: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Smooch Spritz in Cashmere, Holly Berries
• Inks: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Mixed Media Inx in Honey, Truffle
• Glitter: Donna Salazar for Clearsnap - Fairy Dust Glitter in Sugar Shimmer and Mixed Berries
• Embossing Powder: Clearsnap Inc
• Cardstock: unknown
• Dies: Donna Salazar for Spellbinders - Donna's Alphas
• Stamps: Art Gone Wild - Queen Bee, Branch

Gel-a-Tins February DT - Pt II

Sweet Girl- Card

Hello everyone, today I have another CAS card for you and to go with the baby card for a boy from last week, here is one for a sweet baby girl

Making use of the PEACE ON EARTH stamp set I started by stamping a set a baby feet onto the cardbase.

A handcut sentiment was added on top of the feet with some pop dots for dimension and a few pearls added.

As just the stamp and sentiment looked so lost on the card, I added a layered butterfly die to create a balance.

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Papermill

Sentiment - Bella Blvd

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Butterfly Die - Donna Salazar for Spellbinders

Pearls - unknown

Gel-a-Tins - February DT Pt I

Lately I have been in the mood for very Clean and Simple (CAS) cards, so for February I am going to continue with this technique. Odd thing is that sometimes I find a simplistic card can take you so much longer to finish than a layered embellished card.

Have a guess how long it took me to complete the following card?

Did you guess two hours? Yup, that's right it took me a whoopin' two hours to complete this card, crazy!

Making use of the PEACE ON EARTH stamp set I wanted to create a card to welcome a baby boy into this world.

First I hand cut a tag from plain cardstock and stamped a pair of feet on the bottom

I then added a sentiment, which comes from the FANCY DOILY set, fussy cut around the outline and adhered it to the cloud for dimension.

And there it was - a simple card which took forever to complete :)

But the outcome was so worth it, don't you think?

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Papermill

Paper - Donna Salazar for GCD Studios

Ink - Donna Salazar Mixed Media Inx for Clearsnap

Pearl, Chipboard Cloud - unknown