Little Gardener

I can't believe this didn't get posted here yet! Little Gardener - my newest counted cross stitch patter is now available in the S. Jane Craft shop! Click on the banner to the right to go to the shop!

Beach Bear Cross Stitch Pattern

We've had a little bit of a strange spring and summer here in Maine. It felt like spring took forever to get here and summer seemed to be dragging its feet and then we had 3 or 4 day 90+ degree heat wave. Then we had weeks in the 60's and 70's. I don't really want to complain because, as I think I've mentioned before, we live in a very sunny (read: hot) 3rd floor apartment and it was nice to have cool air flowing through.

I started the pattern for Beach Bear on one of the cooler, rainy days while I was wondering if summer was ever actually going to happen. Well, it has! And what better way to kick it off than with a fun little stitching project!

You can purchase Beach Bear as an instant download from my shop! Just click the Etsy link on the upper right or click right here!

Tired Bear

This is how I felt earlier (super sleepy/teensy bit grumpy) so I drew a bear about it.

I felt much better after I drew her but now I'm back to sleepy! I hope if any of you drew feelings bears that yours looked a little more peppy!

Geo Cool Fabric Collection

Well, I have another new thing to share. I've put up my first collection for fabric (and even wallpaper or decals if you want) for sale via Spoonflower! I've been working on getting these up for a while. They have actually been ready for a bit now, I just needed to get brave enough to actually click something to make them public. I guess today was the day!

So, here it is! Geo Cool - a  collection of 8 simple, slightly retro and super cool patterns for your sewing pleasure. 

The samples shown above are printed on Spoonflower's basic combed cotton. 

If you are interested in any of these patterns you can click here to or on the banner to the right to visit my Spoonflower shop!

Woven Perler beads

A few months ago I saw these little baskets on Fine Little Day a few months back and fell in love with them.

I thought they were such a sweet little way to use Perler (or Hama beads as they are also called) beads - which I have, for some reason, had a giant bucket of for years. Then a few weeks ago I saw a post over at Mini Eco with links on how to weave them using the peyote stitch to create little slip covers for tea light holders.

I'm really happy with how they came out. I don't know why I never thought to actually use Perler beads as, well, beads. 

Oh and they have the prettiest glow at night when they are lit up.

Cupcakes! Cupcakes! Cupcakes!

My BFF, Bobbi, asked me to make an image for one of her blogs. She does reviews of cupcakes and some other foods in Portland, Maine and is on the hunt for the best!

Check out her blog at Portland Cupcakes!

Paper Earrings

I've been really wanting some new earrings lately but I haven't been wanting to actually buy some new earrings lately. I've made myself a fair amount of pairs in the past so yesterday, after carving a stamp I made some.

I made them with some heavy card stock, origami paper, envelopes and sealed them up a bunch to make them sturdier. The only thing I don't like is that I had to use some crappy earring hooks because I only had one nice pair. I took the big silver ball off that is usually on those cheaper ones, since I think it just looks kinda awful. 

It's really nice out again today. I have the back door open to the screen and I can hear the neighbor busily doing stuff on the other side of the fence. I hope he starts singing at some point! That's always my favorite.

And hey, here's a good song for a springy day by the super cute Sondre Lerche:

Nala Photography logo

I just wanted to quickly share a logo I did a few weeks ago for Alana of Nashville based Nala Photography.

I really loved Alana's idea for a hot air balloon and it was fun to draw a bunch of them. I'm not sure if I ever had before! 

Visit the Nala Photography site and see some of Alana's gorgeous photos!

Vlisco dutch wax

I found these beauties while searching for wax print fabrics today. They are dutch wax prints from Vlisco.

There are so many more at their site but these were a few of my favorites.

And how gorgeous is this dress in one of the color ways of the first pattern above. I love how large the print is!

Teeny art

I spent some time today trying to teach myself how to do some teeny tiny pixel art. I honestly thought I was going to really really hate it...but I don't!

I can't believe how tiny these little guys are! I'm practicing for a project and I think I'm doing alright for a first try. I did some other, slightly bigger animals too but I'll share them another time.

For sale!

I've been curious about selling on Spoonflower for a little while now. The last time they had their free swatch day I ordered a swatch of their cotton knit fabric in a simple geometric design I made quite a long time ago.  It came out awesome and I really need to order some more.

So I decided today to offer it for sale on the Spoonflower site. I have so many other designs that I think would look great as fabric and I need to order some more swatches to see how they look.

So yeah! If you like this pattern you can order it in lots of different options here!

Oh and sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy with some design work and playing with my new sewing machine!

We're through, sewing machine!

Ok, we're not through but I sure am mad at you. Remember how I was all excited about sewing yesterday and I was all psyched about all the cool stuff I was about to make and you were all going to be super jealous? WELL. My machine is being a total jerk. I'm not even going to go into all the dumb things it suddenly started doing yesterday. (Thanks, Mom and Amanda for all the suggestions!) I keep trying to poke around with it but it just makes me mad so I'm just designing more color palette stuff for future sewing projects.

Adam and I had dinosaur chicken nuggets and crinkle cut fries for dinner last night. It's funny sometimes how a silly dinner can make you feel so much better!

Fabric crushes

I just spent way too long looking on Fabricworm and I'm totally crushing on these fabrics!

You can click on the images to go to the Fabricworm site and buy them for me! Thanks in advance!

Granny squares, a little hike and motion sickness.

Yesterday was a great day. We got up, had some breakfast and then went for a little hike on one of the Fox Hollow Trails. It was great weather and the trail was so pretty. The forest here is so magical and green and mossy and not buggy.

When we got home I decided to try crocheting in the hammock. Just a heads up. Crocheting while sitting in a hammock can make you motion sick! Or, well, can make me motion sick. Looking down while swinging slightly side to side = NO GOOD.

I hadn't actually made any small granny squares before, only started an afghan that is like one giant one. I've made eight different squares and today decided on a layout. 

It looks pretty crazy like that, but it's not reaaaally going to look like that anyway. It kind of gives me a headache to look at for too long. Well I must get back to my granny squares and watching Nip/Tuck with my bro-in-law.

Colors, meatloaf, moving.

I've got some new, neat ideas. Well, ok maybe not that new. But still feeling excited! 

Also exciting: Adam and I made meatloaf in the crock pot from this book and mashed potatoes for dinner last night. It was sooo good and I can't wait to have some leftovers. I might just have to have an early lunch today!

Not as exciting: Looking for a new place to live. What a pain.

So many options!

I've been cross stitching so many little designs lately trying to get a good stock of stuff. I realized yesterday that there are really so many things I could do. I tried some out, but I'm still not sure which ones I like besides the necklace.



The coral colored flower is from a antique pattern and I put it on a headband. All the rest are my own designs and from top to bottom are a brooch, hair pin and necklace. This is only a few of the pieces I've been stitching but what do you think?

I need some feedback, pals!

Also, I can't get this song out of my head today! If you haven't checked out the mystery that is (or, well, was) Iammaiwhoami, I highly recommend it. Super creepy and intriguing.

Quick peek and bone chisels (jk not really)

Just a quick peek at some projects I'm working on!

It's been a lot of stitching and a lot of Doctor Who the past few weeks. We are finally starting to get the gross heat that everyone else has been having. It just started yesterday so it's not too bad in our house yet but I'm already dreading it. Maybe I was one of the only ones, but I really wasn't minding the unseasonably cool weather we were having.

Well, I'm going to return to trying to keep cool and then make some pizza dough! We are going to a BBQ later and we're going to bring stuff for grilled pizzas. We made them when we went up to Seattle for the 4th and they came out so delicious.

Also while in Seattle on the 4th, I took some time to study up on medical equipment sterilization procedures.

And by study up I mean look through a procedure book my dad has for work and look for the old medical tools that I have and yell.."OH GROSS OUT!" at what they were once used for. I wish I had taken a picture of one of the grosser ones (like the bone chisels or things that cut nose cartilage, totally pukatronic!) but my camera battery crapped out immediately after that pic.

I think you should play this: ImmorTall

Adam and I were chatting about indie games earlier and how frustrating it is that the mainstream view of games is all blood and guts and guns. I don't really play many games like that and never really have. What I have always loved about games is that you get to see worlds you never could have imagined and have experiences that you can't have in real life. And while I don't need to feel something when I play a game, I've realized lately that when I do, regardless of the emotion, it sticks with me for a looong time. I still remember screaming and turning off my monitor when a zombie popped out of a puddle in Half-Life 2, the horrible grinding/growling sound in grandma's house when you play as Carmen in The Path, being psyched when Pango (that stubborn bitch!) finally gave me her picture in Animal Crossing: Wild World and how I felt at the end of ImmorTall by Pixelante.

It's a very short game so I don't want to give anything away but on the Pixelante site ImmorTall is described as "a poignant walk through the life of an alien caught in the midst of humanity". 

( click on screenshots to go to the game)

The game is so beautiful in the simplicity of the story and artwork. I had been meaning to share it with Adam for so long because it just randomly pops in my head sometimes. I finally did today and then decided to post about it here in hopes of sharing it with a few more people!


So if you have a few minutes please use them to check out ImmorTall. You can literally play it in a few minutes and if you don't think it's beautiful or feel nothing at the end they you are probably a robot, or dead, or a jerk! (JK, kinda)

Flower Necklace

Here is the other cross stitch piece I did. I decided to turn this one into a necklace as well.

It's the middle of June and only in the 50's outside. What the crap, Oregon!

Diamond Necklace

A few months back I did some little cross stitch pieces with the intention of making some kind of wearable things out of them. I finally got to work on one of those today.

It's a diamond necklace! Get it? Jokes!

You can see a pic of it on at my Flickr account. I'm not sure about the gold chain or the length, but I haven't totally secured the backing yet so I might change it out. I'm not really even positive if I like it as a necklace.

I've been so drowsy the past few days. The weather has been great but since moving here I've developed allergies and all I want to do is nap and blow my nose and sneeze. It's pretty lame.