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Well, I think my big list of potential makes was a tad optimistic! An awful lot of my time (far more than I had originally anticipated) was spent knitting the rudolph jumper. I'm not going to lie. It was a hard make. Perhaps not the best pattern to knit my first jumper from. That may be a little harsh though - the plain red bits were fairly straightforward, it was just knitting the reindeer that slowed me down. It wasn't until half way through I finally figured out how to strand properly, so inside the top half looks all neat and tidy, like this.... Whilst the bottom half looks a fine mess... I had a few heart stopping moments though. When I reached the top of the antlers, I realised I'd forgotten to shape the armholes. The thought of having to frog 20 rows made me feel more than a little sick, and I didn't touch it for a week - I didn't want to make yet more mistakes by rushing into correcting it. And then when I knitted the neckband to join the front and back toge...

Because this deserves MUCH greater circulation:

Here is a little look at some homemade Christmas presents. Both the ones I made and gave away and the ones I got. For more inspiration check out my Pinterest board " Making Christmas Gifts 2011 " and my blog Eddie's room . A bag I made for my husband with embroidered (not by me) birds (he is a big bird fan) A tray my husband and I decoupaged with maps for my little brother who is studying geography. I made a couple of these porcupine pin cushions for my mother and sister using this wonderful tutoria l from Prudent Baby I made these Christmas stockings for my husband and myself using this free tutorial . My sister made this vinyl record bowl for my husband. There is a free tutorial for this here. She also made him this fab pencil case for his art pencils. For me she made this pretty shawl which I can't wait to use.

Every painting is a battle for me.  Some are not as difficult as others, but they are all battles.  Some are rather protracted campaigns, while others are shorter skirmishes.  Some end in decisive victory, and others end with my signature on a treaty of surrender. My point today is about how different the battle looks during the battle from the way it looks a year or two later, in hindsight.  I have made several paintings about which, upon their completion, I could not say whether or not they were successful.  And certainly during the middle stretches of each painting, success seems very much in doubt. Here is a painting that I worked on for about 2 years.  I finished it in the summer of 2010.  While it was going on, I always doubted whether the glass blocks (which took forever!) and the granite would be at all convincing when the thing was finished.  Now, 18 months later, I am convinced.  I am happy with the result. Funny how that works.

This is a spectacular video tour of a large, unique Rickenbacker guitar collection.  A must see video for all fans of Rickenbacker musical instruments!  From PREMIERGuitar .

 2 more days in 2011! Please finish unfinished things before 2012 comes! I went to a concert with my sister yesterday. The singer's name is Masaharu Fukuyama . He is also an actor, song writer and entertainer. My sister is a big fan of him and I started to listen to his songs. During the concert, we saw a video looking back his 2011. Of course, the video included the scenes of the East Japan Disasters on 311. And what he did was also shown. About 17,000 people at concert hall watched and  nodded, sharing the same feeling and emotions. As one of them, many memories and emotions came up in my mind. At the end of the year, there are many TV programs and events, looking back the year 2011. Some scenes and facts are new. Now we can hear the true voices of people who suffered. I guess all the Japanese share the same feeling right now. Japanese will never forget the year 2011. My life was changed a lot this year. At some points, I felt nothing moved on. But when I looked ba...

I don't know why it is that lately I am running into more (or am more attuned to notice) atheist advertising.  First, it was this Santa billboard .  Then, a few days later, I saw this bumper sticker on the back of an SUV:    This has several features to commend it.  First of all, it carries a complex thought in a relatively small number of words. You cannot effectively squeeze a lengthy manifesto onto a bumper sticker size rectangle.  But this sticker manages to say something philosophically profound in 15 or 16 words, which makes it rather elegant. The second thing I like about it is its refreshing acknowledgment of the awesomeness of God, and of man's smallness, dependence, and frailty by comparison.  In short, it adequately recognized the Creator-creature distinction (pretty good for an atheist!):  It realizes what an audacious thing it is to question Almighty God.  The whole phrase just rings with the injustice of puny man daring to confr...

Greetings, Crafty Christmas-ers!  I hope you all were able to finish up your projects before Christmas.  I completed my last Christmas gift on Christmas Eve morning thanks to a cold that decided to show up last week and knock me on my ass for a few days. I made the Explorer Vest from Oliver + S' Little Things to Sew  for my nephew. I'm happy to report that he loves it!  He promptly shoved all of his spy gear into all of the pockets! The pattern was really easy to follow.  I'm so excited to make more projects from the book.  More information can be found on my blog . My last Christmas-y project was for my mom's birthday.  It is today and since she's getting back into knitting, I made her a roll to keep her knitting needles in.  I used the Tool Roll pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing .  It was pretty easy to follow but I made a few modifications (more info on that can be found here ).  Since I've been wanting one too, I made us ...

I don't know if this lives up to the title, but it is worth watching:

This event looks to have been a blast!  All the old drag cars look great! East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame 2011 Reunion  Our fried Bob Lees was there with the "High & Mighty II" Ramchargers tribute car.

Soon after Christmas was over, we have to be ready for the New Year. House cleaning, special-meals cooking, New Year decoration....etc. I finally finished my New Year greeting cards. The card includes my photo and pottery work. Since they have a special stamp, all cards arrive on the New Year although they are mailed a week before. Of course, there is the time limit and if it's too late, they will arrive after the New Year holiday is over. Now it's very convenient we can make cards by computer. Before I bought it, I did all hand-writing with some stamps. I'll write messages and mail them. These days, people send the New Year messages by mail. But I still like to write to give special thanks of this year, and happiness and friendship of next year. The animal of the year 2012 is Dragon! We have 12 animals, Chinese zodiac. Dragon is the only legendary animal of 12. So the year 2012 is not usual. Something we never expected will happen. Good or Bad things are all up...

These are kind of long (and the first has needless use of the F-word), but they illustrate the position which Planet Fitness has taken up in the market. They really DO have pizza night.

I think I may have posted some of the videos here before. I like Part 3, because it gets into the whole Planet Fitness thing. Of course, I support their right to refuse membership to anyone they choose, but their anti-bodybuilder stance still amuses me. It is not a "Judgment-Free Zone", as they claim. In case you missed them, here are the other parts from YouTube: Part 1 Part 2 Part 4

Those who are regular readers of this blog may know of my interest in cemeteries, and in photographs and paintings of cemetery scenes.  I recently had one of my photographs published in this book, but interestingly it was not a cemetery photo (see B&W photo below). Here is the photo that was chosen for the book.  It is of Ivy Blue, and was taken at St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit , on Woodward in downtown Detroit. I have not given the book a close enough examination to be able to write any sort of meaningful review.  But I did find the images it contains to be interesting.

If you can't tell by this post, I'm a procrastinator. Thought I'd recap what I was able to give out (and technically finish) these past couple days, though I'm still needing to finish a couple more gifts. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and that everyone enjoyed your amazing crafty gift goodness! Another pleated clutch, with layered fabric Ginger schnapps, in single size jars Shortbread Cockroach ornaments, based off of Very Purple Person's tutorial Poorly self-drafted capes Felt-applique t-shirt Diaper clutch, again poorly self-drafted Earthworm ornaments

Hi! This is Jonquil.  I hope everyone is enjoying a merry Yuletide!         Here are what I have been busy with this season.  The three stockings with names are for the grandchildren, with the blue one for me & the green one for my daughter.  The ornaments are for the grandchildren.  I try to make ornaments every year so that when the grandchildren are old enough for their own tree, they will have enough ornaments to fill it.  Next year I should have the counted cross-stitch stockings done.  Two fronts are stitched with the third started.  Now for blocking & adding beads afterwards.

I was driving my family home at about 1:00 am this morning, through the darkness of I-75 in Genesee County, we saw this billboard, blazing at us with what seemed a million watts: You kind of have to feel sorry for the atheists, really.  I mean, the odds are long enough, what with them pitting themselves against centuries of belief in God. But now, to take on Christmas ... I don't know how they think they can win this one?

Ok, now I am officially, really done Christmas. I made up a batch of Martha Stewart's Vanilla Marshmallows and Peppermint Marshmallows, along with some Hot Chocolate to share with friends and family. They were pretty easy to make, though I was surprised by how different each recipe was! Of the two, I prefer the Vanilla Marshmallows. The Peppermint recipe makes a much fluffier marshmallow, more like meringue. I found some great printable tags Here & Here that dressed up my simple paper bag, and cellophane wrapping! I got clothes pins at the dollar store to keep the bags closed tight. Now... I have to finish wrapping everything! You can read more about my Christmas gifts over on my blog, Ohhh Lulu . It's been a pleasure seeing all of the beautiful and creative gifts that everyone has made this year! Merry Christmas everyone!

Here's a last minute Christmas gift that always makes me smile!  Chocolate moustaches!  Chocolate moustache on a lollipop stick Just melt some milk chocolate in a microwave/ban marie/chocolate fondue melter whatever your melting procedure of choice and once melted add a few drops of orange flavouring and then pour into a mould of your choice (I got this mould online posted to me by a friend in America as they wouldn't deliver to the UK, but think there are now sellers of this mould over here), set aside to cool and then transfer to the fridge for a few hours or overnight and then wrap prettily!  No one who receives something like this can resist pulling funny poses before devouring them!  Here's the proof! Got to keep those moustache ends twirled! Sneaky looks Big smile!  Well, Moustache! Merry Christmas!

Dear Readers ... Here is my 2011 Christmas poem.  (A few notes follow, below the text.) Beat Frequency (Christmas in October) Backward through the calendar Christmas yearly strides. Pagans push it earlier; Summerward it rides. Every year it starts again, Sooner than before. Someday we shall wake in June, With Christmas at the door. Still, they won't be satisfied, These hurriers to carouse, Until electric bulbs are hung From April's budding boughs. Faster!  Sooner!  still they cry. On the madness goes! Heathen frenzy at the malls, 'Mid February's snows. Why this dash to Bethlehem? Why no fear of danger? Rush on pagan, meet your Lord, Lying in the manger. Finally, they shall catch me up; We'll celebrate in synch. And they shall have their Christmas Eve Upon Epiphany's brink. This beating of the Christmas waves, For aeons shall it live. For pagans need more Christmases Than Christendom can give. © 2011, Paul Erlandson Notes: 1.  By "pagan" here I merely m...

For my friends all over the world, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas filled with love and peace! Please enjoy the Christmas Parade at Tokyo Disneyland. Never forget the mind and heart you had in your childhood. Your childlike heart brings you fresh perspectives and ideas! I hope I can see you again with fresh discoveries! Love Chiaki

Hi everyone, I've seen some lovely homemade gifts on this site, and have been so inspired!  Sadly my Christmas gift planning was a complete fail.  I didn’t make any of the things I planned to make , but did end up making something I wasn’t really planning to make at all.  Thanks to a comment from Marie I decided to make a pair of boxers for my boyfriend.  I used Kwik Sew pattern 1672  and am totally chuffed about how well they have turned out.  Not least the amazing fluke pattern matching at the centre front, it’s (almost perfect). I also made some embroidered gift tags, partially inspired by this purl bee tutorial , although I made the tags bigger and embroidered the names on instead of using card. I hope everyone elses Christmas making plans went well.  Happy holidays everyone!!!

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