Break Please!

I know that I've fallen off the face of the Earth recently and for that you have my most sincere apologies. March was Hell Month for me: midterms, back to back running races, papers, job applications, and now the worst bout of flu I've ever experienced!

I have actually done some crafting over the last month, but it really has been put aside while other things have taken up my time. Technically, I'm on Spring Break right now from University, so the extra time to recuperate has been wonderful. I'm just hoping to get back to work by the end of the week and crafting by the end of the weekend!

Life, Work, and Companion Cubes

Well, things have been a bit hectic lately, but midterms are finally over and I think that I'll be able to get some more work done on Yoshi, soon.

My biggest two issues in terms of crafting have been time management and safely transporting my projects around with me during the week. Between work and classes (and applying for an amazing position that just came available at work this week), crafts haven't been at the top of my list. They've been toted along with me recently, but not much attention has been given to them, I'll admit.

I've always felt fortunate to have a boss who is also a fellow crafter. She has always been comfortable with me bringing my crafting with me to the office every day so long as all of the office's day-to-day tasks and special projects are completed. And I'm lucky that I can multitask while making our courtesy calls every afternoon, especially Friday. Here's how my week in crafting went: twenty-six  granny squares waiting to be tied and sewn in on my Companion Cube blanket.

Despite a hiatus, I've been able to get quite a bit of work done on this blanket since starting it last April. I've made 192/212 off-white squares and combined I only have 145 total squares left to make before I begin sewing. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Home Sweet Home Yoshi: A Conundrum

Well, it seems like I've screwed up a bit. Somehow, my WIP photographs have gotten out of sync and I may be missing more than just WIP 011 like I originally had thought. So, today is a bonus day! Pictures all the way through yesterday, February 25. (For the record, the 25th is my anniversary, so this post is a bit special.)

I suppose today is a bit of a HSHY treat for those of you who are following the project.

Looking pretty good, huh? Yoshi's getting a fireplace, one brick at a time! I'm hoping to finish the fireplace completely by the end of March, but that involves finishing all the black outline and filling in all the bricks. It's doable, but ambitious.

Pokeball Keychain

Over the last few months, I've been fortunate enough to attend a number of Street Pass San Diego events in the area and meet a lot of other local 3DS players. It's a really neat group and because they do so much for the local community, I told them late last year I would craft some items for them to give away at their monthly meet ups. After finally getting my act together in terms of time management, this is what I came up with. When coworkers asked me how long it took, all I could say was "two episodes of Mad Men," but this was a really fun project and I can't wait to make one for myself in the future.

Bellsprout: Cut Out (2/20 Done!)

Well, he's finally done. Charmander still doesn't have a head, but Bellsprout is 100% done. It took me until Tuesday night to work up enough courage to use my new Xacto knife, but once I got the hang of cutting things out, I actually had quite an enjoyable time extracting Bellsprout from his plastic canvas prison.  I ended up with so many little pieces of plastic on my desk, though! Look at the pile of little plasitc bits that I ended up with on my desk.

My next step was to try and find a better way of backing this little guy. I used sticky felt and scissors last time with Bulbasaur and I had a terrible time with the adhesive sticking to my scissors, so I was hesitant to reuse the method. I liked that the sticky felt held all the threads in place, though. A friend on Sprite Stitch recommended that I just take stiffened felt and backstitch it to my canvas, but quite honestly, I've never tried backstitching on a project before and it just sounded scary.

So, it was back to the sticky felt. I wasn't sure how the adhesive would behave with my Xacto knife, so I just went for it. As it turns out, an Xacto knife cuts through that stickiness pretty darn well and I was able to back Bellsprout and add a hanger to him relatively fast before getting ready for  class. (Yeah! I've actually been on top of my studying so far this semester, so I've had some time to not only craft, but craft on weekdays again!)

Anyhow, hopefully I'm back indefinitely in terms of posting. I have about three other posts in the works today and--finger's crossed--my studies won't end up consuming all my time again. Like I said, fingers crossed!

Be Right Back!

I am currently on hiatus as I return back to work and school. Thanks for bearing with me amidst the chaos!

Home Sweet Home Yoshi WIP 011

Happy Friday, everyone! Today is another HSHY post. I was planning on having some more projects posted up here this week, but when the mind said yes, the body said "NOPE! Arthritis flair up, instead." Hopefully, this nastiness will calm down before classes start on Wednesday. Can't write with messed up hands, you know?

Here's WIP 011.

It's funny, because I don't really feel like there is a big difference between WIP 010 and 011, but in terms of how many stitches I put in between the two photographs, there are distinct differences. The grass is a lot farther along and there's that little tuft on the right-hand side that wasn't there before.

Look for some more HSHY or Pokemon on Friday!