chimesblog

I’ve been working through my fabric scraps and I came across the Heather Ross Mendocino scraps that Adria had given me a while back.  She had leftovers after making a really cool mendocino quilt.

Here are a few of my favorite ones … They’re 5″x6″

I’m going to add 5-6″ of white fabric around each block to make it look like they’re floating and make a larger quilt out of these.  So excited! 

If you want to see all the blocks, I’ve got them posted on Flickr.

I’ve been realizing lately that I have undergone a lot of changes in the past year … and for once my outward appearance has reflected it.

Before January 2009, my hair was the same since 8th grade.  Between chin and shoulder length. Various shades of blonde ranging from golden to platinum, curly and thick.  The only change was whether or not I had bangs.  I didn’t dare do anything drastic (aside from the time I colored the underside pink and black — but the top was still blonde).

In January of 2009 I cut my hair super short.  I kept randomly cutting it shorter and more asymmetrical as the year progressed.

I went through a breakup last fall and I colored my hair super dark to remind myself that things were different and that more importantly that I was different.

Anyway, a while back I was talking with my boy and his roommate and they said they hardly remember the long-blonde-haired Calee, even though that’s what they knew for so long. I didn’t realize until then just how different I look now.  I mean, it’s probably partially the attitude that I have too — so much different. I feel like I can conquer the world.

I went out last weekend with my friend, Shelly, and we both looked pretty hot. So I took a few pix of myself for my “mugshots” album on facebook, especially since I looked like a total rocker chick.

So I started going through my facebook pictures and noticed just how much I changed. I found the album of “pinups” that I’d taken a couple years back. One photo in particular showed me with my “rocker” look.  I had my bass guitar and a killer look on my face. This used to be my go-to super-hot photo.

So, then or now? Ignore the camera quality … webcam vs. a nice cam.

I even got a new ID last week for work. I lost my old one, so I now have an ID that looks like me!

It’s been so long since I had a weekend of hermiting and crafting.  The cat’s away so the mouse will … be lame and stay indoors on a Saturday night?

This used to be my typical Saturday night: run, shower, laundry, movies, crafting, sleep.

Lately I’ve been doing things.  Like a lot of things. I went to a concert last night with Shelly (I will blog about this later once she gets pix/video up), I’ve been going out with friends to Welch Ave., Fong’s, The Lift, etc., we had prom last weekend … eeeeep! This is entirely too much stuff for me — it’s been fun — but I need a break!

So, I’m hermiting.

Tonight is going to be a craft-a-thon. I’ve had a request for 2 tea wallets and 2 market bags since posting on facebook that I was going to have a craft-a-thon.  I’ve got a Ziggy Stardust tea cup I want to finish, some potholders, a zip pouch and I have a couple of new hot projects that I’d like to crank out quickly to stash bust my scrap fabric.

Anywho — as I finish things, I’ll be posting pix here of what I accomplish tonight. Let’s hope I do a few more things so I don’t look like I spent the night thinking about crafting and not actually crafting.

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1. Two Bags for my niece

My mom requested that I make Emee a couple of bags for some of her toy sets.  These need handles, but I haven’t come across anything that I’d like to use for handles just yet.  I made these bags out of a skirt I had in high school that I never wear anymore.  It’s really cute purple fabric that shifts to blue in the right light and has a metallic silver brocade on the edges.

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2. Potholders

I started making a string quilt a while back with a bunch of random scraps, but I wasn’t pleased with what I was getting. So I decided to make the blocks into ugly potholders. The potholders have been lying around for a while awaiting the binding edge, so I’m sewing the binding on tonight.

Here’s what my potholders look like …

As you can see … I’m pretty excited that I finally finished these.

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3.  Lil Zipper Bag

Over the summer I’d made some little zipper bags with some fuschia and gold Heather Ross mendocino fabric that was given to me by my friend Adria.  I love this fabric sooo much, might I add. Definitely one of my all-time favorites. Anyway, for whatever reason I’ve had one little zipper bag sitting around unfinished. So I finished that off tonight as well.

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4. Ziggy Stardust Tea Cup

I made Mark a cute tea cup for our 2-month anniversary with the lyrics to our song on it … and I decided I wanted one that’s similar for myself. Yes — I said — FOR MYSELF. I never craft for myself. I wrote out the lyrics to Ziggy on a teacup last week … but decided that it needed to have a bit more pizazz, considering it *is* Bowie. So, I painted it up. I’m not too happy with the results, but maybe it will grow on me after I bake it. I like the one side, but I think if I would have left it a bit simpler it would be nicer … oh well. This can end up on craftastrophe I guess.

As you can tell by my face, this is the side I’m not too happy with. I dunno what to do with it just yet … Probably just bake it and hide it away in my apartment.

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I think that’s all I’m going to get to tonight, but I’m going to continue tomorrow and get 4-6 tea wallets done, possibly some dis-cards (Denyse Schmidt style) and maybe another craft for myself — heating pad cover.

Are you ready for this awesomeness?

Every year Ames has a throwback prom to raise money for American Cancer Society and this year’s theme was Night of the Living Prom. Zombies. Prom. Zombies. Prom. Prombies?

Of course, I had to cram myself into this awesome black dress I bought for last year’s prom that isn’t made to actually fit a human being. It’s a size … ?? I don’t know. 28 inch waist with 24 inches for a chest? Hmm.. yeah. I turned the back into the corset and laced it up to fit me. Frankensteined a dress for zombie prom.

Mark and I decided to do 80s glam punk — Billy Idol style. I made Mark a shirt out of a PBR t-shirt and some fabric scraps. And of course, I made us a corsage and a boutonniere.

It was a good mix of zombies and prom goers. We had a fabulous time. The band showed up in Ghostbusters costumes (complete with proton packs) and played the ghostbusters song! Thriller was played halfway through the night and a group of us danced to it. I didn’t learn it, but I jumped in and improved anyway.

That’s about it. Free beer and punch. Lots of dancing. Lots of fun times. Undead. And alive.

Here are some pix!

Okay, so a friend of mine is going to try this in February, so I thought, hey, why not?

I’m going to attempt to only eat out at local establishments — no chain restaurants — in February.  Can I do this?  I think I can.  I pretty much avoid chains for the most part anyway.  Sooo … here I go!

I should maybe attempt to blog about the different places I try, but we’ll see how that goes.

Read about my friend swearing off chain restaurants for a month.

Once again I’m attending the fabulous charity prom put on by Sigler Companies in Ames.  This year’s theme is Night of the Living Prom.  So, you can go as a zombie or as whatever you want. So really, the only difference from last year is the zombie part. Last year’s theme was Revenge of the Prom.

Anyway, Mark is going with me and I kind of fed his ideas for what he was going to wear and let them snowball into something really cool.  So originally he was wanting to wear an old-school tuxedo t-shirt with weight-lifting gloves and a jacket, but I suggested we go to the Atomic Garage in Valley Junction to see if they had any cool vintage attire.  There, we found an epic PBR t-shirt, which is perfect because him and all my guy friends are notorious for drinking PBR since it’s the cheapest pitcher you can get. But it was too small. I bought it anyway assuming I could craft it into something.

Today I tried on my black dress that I’d bought last year that has never quite fit (it tapers to the top — which makes no sense, but whatever).  I decided that it was too cute with the electric blue and black lace tights I had on and that I HAD to make it work.  Coincidentally, at the same time I tried the dress on, I got a text from Mark saying that he was going to tuck his jeans into his boots, old-school punk style.

*idea!*

So we’re going punk.

I’m going to add a hook and eye closure where the zipper stops zipping on the dress, and add loops so I can lace the rest of it up like a corset so it will fit.  There’s only about 6 inches where it won’t zip, but I figured it’d be an easy fix and I won’t have to take the zipper out to do it, so if by some miracle of God or if I lose some ribs then MAYBE it will fit someday and I can un-frankenstein it up.

The PBR shirt is getting cut up and patched onto a charcoal grey t-shirt along with some electric blue accent fabric.  Also — safety pins.  He’s wearing the gloves and jacket along with the tucked in jeans. It’s going to be awesome.

I already made the corsage and boutonniere for the event, including some awesome houndstooth fabric, sequins and of course, safety pins, with a little bit of electric blue ribbon. AWESOME.  I hope it’s not too girly for him to wear.

Well, not really, but we did go to the townie bar.  Well, they’re all townie bars I guess.

I took Mark home last week to meet my family and my friends.  My family loved him (I mean, what’s not to love?) and my friends did as well. We went to the Eagles Club where my friend Lindsay bartends and did karaoke and danced the night away.  Here are some lovely photographs from the evening …

I’m doing it. I’m running that damn half marathon this year.  I’m going to leave my old record in the dust: 2:08:01

Today I created my training program on nikeplus.com.  For starters, I decided to do the beginner level, which pained me greatly.  I’m not a frickin’ beginner runner by any means; however, it’s been so long since I ran distances over 5 miles that I figured it would be best to just bite the bullet and do the beginner program. I mean, I am somewhat still injured (and will probably ALWAYS have problems with my left leg), so I shouldn’t push my luck.

Anyway, starting February 1, I will be training for the Drake Relays on the Roads Half Marathon.  But first, I need to purchase some new running shoes!

So in honor of my favorite celeb, this year’s prom theme is Night of the Living Prom. Well, not sure if it’s in honor of him, but either way, we’re learning the Thriller dance so most people can do it and it will be awesome.

In case you forgot, Prom is a charity event in Ames that is held every year.  It’s a throwback prom with a cool theme. Last year’s was Revenge of the Prom.

Anyway, last weekend they held a group practice to learn the dance, but I went home for the weekend to introduce Mark to my family (which went really well, BTW).  So, needless to say, this uncoordinated chica must learn this thing on her own.

So, I began.

And, I’m going to be videoing my progress and blogging about it that way I actually get this thing learned so I don’t look like a tool and so I can pay homage to the King like I always wanted to. Plus, life isn’t complete until you know how to dance like a zombie.

I always have something cooking.  So I’ve decided this is the year that I purge. And by purge, that means I honestly use all of the stuff that I’ve hoarded (ie. art and craft supplies) or they go to a good home or good will.

So, to start the year, I’m going to go through my apartment once a week with three bags (or boxes).  One bag for things that are recyclable. This will go to work with me so I can put it in the bins that don’t need sorting (cuz I’m lazy and apt to get rid of more this way).  Another bag for things that can go to Good Will.  And the final is for anything that doesn’t fit into either of these categories but that I do need to get rid of.  Hopefully it won’t be anything, but just in case.

In addition, I’m going to finally FO all of my WIPs.  For you non-craftsters, that means finish off all my works-in-progress.

This includes, but is not limited to:

1. Travis’s t-shirt quilt (ie. I need to start it)
2. the black and white quilt — still in piecing mode
3. coin stack quilt — needs quilted
4. Hello Betty quilt — needs quilted
5. tattoo dish set — 8 dishes left
6. Roseanne afghan — this could continue to be a WIP since I just pick it up when I’m sick or bored
7. quilted potholders

Also, I realized I have a lot of stuff that I can do things with that I have just been hoarding. Example — jeans.  I refuse to throw away jeans.  I need to get rid of them.  Good will? Likely.  BUT I could be crafty.  I could cut them up and make some patchwork things out of them. Patchwork pillows? Patchwork wallets?  How fun.  I could have a whole jeans line this year.  That would be fun.  Maybe I shall.  But I need to figure out some sort of twist so it’s not just the kitschy “let’s make things from jeans” look that everybody else has.  So maybe I’ll master wonky log cabin patchwork and create potholders, pillows, coasters and the like.  We shall see. Instead, I’m going to blog about it.  But maybe I move my jeans from the random spot they’re living to my fabric pile so I at least have a head start there.

So I guess that’s it for projects.  I have a few other freelance pieces that are in the works.