Week 4 Project

Wow!  Do I know how to make a mess!  I typically spread out when working on a project, which is often quite annoying to those who need to use the same space I am using.  I used to do projects on the kitchen table before having my lovely Blessings Room which is what my craft room is called.  The goal is that I create many blessings to share with others.  Now I share my Blessings Room with Sir T who has his work desk and computer set up in it so I still need to keep the floor clear. 

I cover all the surface area I can find and still run out of room.

My project this week was to make all the little shapes for this coming year that we write our gratitudes on.  I like to have a theme for each month but I don’t want to be too repetitive.  The white machine in the middle of the above image is my cricut.  It has the ability to cut several different mediums from paper to fabric.  I have only used it for paper so far.

Cricut – Explore One TM

Along with my ongoing frustration of learning computer skills such as downloading and managing my thousands of pictures, the learning curve for the Cricut has been steep too.  Not because it is actually too difficult, but just because I am not intuitive with electronics.  It doesn’t occur to me to try clicking on a small picture on the screen and expect something to happen.  The flip side is that I do click on something and everything is gone or I don’t know how to get it back.  I did that for an image I worked 10 minutes or so on and then it was gone.  Heave a big sigh and start over.  However, I am getting the hang of it and perfect practice does make perfect.  If I do it the right way enough times it will eventually stick.

I have not had the opportunity to use other machines so I do not know how they compare to a Cricut for ease of use and selection of images.  I like my Cricut for the most part but it does have an annoying issue with “free” images that don’t stay free.  I have used a couple images before but this time when I went to cut them out, they wanted me to pay money.  The Cricut has to be attached to my computer and use an online program to work.  This program comes with a handy PayPal / credit card option.  I am too cheap and I doubt Sir T would approve of that expenditure.   I just went and found different images that were free or create my own with a Paint program.  Once uploaded, these are mine and safe from fees.  Sir T’s biggest complaint about the Cricut is the fact that it has to run online and how limited it is for controlling.  He wants a CNC machine that he can program.

For January and February I decided on snowflakes again.  I love snowflakes.  I don’t really like to be IN snow but it is pretty to look outside and see it from inside my warm house.  It is also good for the plants to have a blanket.  Perhaps if I ever fell in love with winter sports like most of my siblings are, I might enjoy it for its own sake.  Until then, I will be happy making paper snowflakes and admiring the real stuff from afar.

The only time “snow” is warm…

Butterflies are beautiful!

March is my birthday month and I have convinced my entire family that I MUST go see the butterflies at Fredrick Meijer Gardens every year.  My “always up for adventure” Mom and my long suffering husband have the award for most visits with me.  It doesn’t matter that I have seen them for the past *muffled* number of years.  I need some green plants, warm air and the delight that butterflies are to help me survive winter. 

Rain drops, tulips and daisies… did you know that rain drops are actually round not tear shaped?

For April I am reusing rain drops left over from last year.  April showers bring…  May flowers, and in my city’s case those May flowers are tulips.  Holland, Michigan hosts one of the biggest tulip festivals in the United States with over 5 million bulbs.  I like tulips but rarely plant them as they are extremely short lived.  I do plant a few species tulip bulbs which naturalize.  June is full of daisies in my garden and I thought they would go nicely with my tulips on the two page spread.

July and August are the best months for beach volleyball.  It is warm, the water is sometimes above 60 degrees and the sun comes out.  Thus flip flops make their debut for July.  I found an image online and copied it to paint to create the picture to upload.  If the lines aren’t solid, the Cricut program has a hard time making a good silhouette.  To make the different layers, you have to erase what you don’t want.  I learned how to keep all the parts the same size in relation to each other despite enlarging the image.  After cutting them out we get to play with glue, and sticky fingers.  I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

No time for shoes in the summer!

August has kites.  While playing volleyball at the beach there is almost always a breeze and the big kites come out to play.  There is a big dragon and a huge octopus / squid one that is easily 50 feet long along with all the other “small” ones and little kid ones.   They are fun to watch but if the kites are on the beach you can be sure that you will need to be making adjustments for the volleyball getting blown around.  As long as it isn’t lightening we usually keep playing in light rain and wind.

Using up the rest of the kites… they took a while to make the first time for last year

September and October bring the cooler weather and the changing of leaves.  These are also the months that Sukkot falls in and I’m assuming that we will be very busy during this time.  Leaves across the board will be easy.

Gonna be grateful even though winter is coming…

In 2016 I made a bunch of squares and had everyone from both Sir T’s family and mine write down what they were grateful for and sign it.  It was really neat to record that and see what was important to each person.  I didn’t get that done last year and I’m sad I didn’t.  So this coming year I made tags with a leaf cut out to bring along to Thanksgiving I and II.  I created this from two different images and it came out really well. 

These are so cute!  I want to make more with different shapes now.

Finally we are back to December…  cold, end of the year and I’m kinda out of ideas of what to make.  I asked T and he suggested snowmen.  That could be cute so off to clip art, paint and lots of erasing.  I am thrilled with how these turned out.  It worked!

Don’t they look like the snowmen Calvin and Hobbes tortured? 
Sir T had a few suggestions of what atrocities to do to them. 
We like Calvin and Hobbes and have most of the comics.

So the grand reveal of papers….  If you are ever at our home, you are more than welcome to include yourself in our gratitude book.  Just go to the end of the hall and fill one out!

I need to put a non-reflective back ground down before taking pictures.

Yeah me!  Onto the next challenge and this one is a dozy.  My lovely sister-in-law Carolanne made Sir T and I a quilt for our wedding present.  It is beautiful and graced our bed for about 16 years before I had to stop using it because we were destroying it.  I tend to sleep like a log… I do not move and if I do it is to turn neatly over in the same space I am currently occupying.  My husband sleeps like a tornado touched down.  I have awoken to find all the blankets AWOL and his elbow bopping me repeatedly in the head.  He can’t help it and he is sorry upon being awakened by me forcing his elbow to stop connecting with my person. 

Our quilt has been through the gauntlet and my repeated dragging of the covers back up to cover my cold body had ripped the top edge on both sides.  I removed the quilt from our bed in hopes to mend it and just have no clue where to start.  I fear that some of the fabric is “rotten” and will not be able to handle mending and may need to be replaced.  I’m not sure. 

I have decided that I need help and so I’m going to bring my poor quilt to a local quilt shop called Pressing Matters.  The owner is a friend of a friend so I will have a small connection to start the conversation.  I hope that I will be able to get a few good pointers and that the quilt can be saved.

My poor bedraggled quilt.  I really want it back in commission.

Monday I make an appointment with the shop.  Oh, here is my tidied up blessings room. Ready to start on the quilt! Here’s to hoping that it will go well.  May you have a productive week and I’ll talk to you next time… Blessings!

Yes, that is my sister’s skirt still waiting to be sent; this week I will get it gone.