Cat on a Limb

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

I'm Still Here!

I figured I needed to post something so you all didn't think I dropped off the face of the Earth.

I am still here, attempting to get by day to day. School is becoming a little overwhelming, but I just need to stay organized and make sure I divide tasks into smaller pieces to tackle each day, instead of attempting to do one big thing in one day alone. Here's hoping I can keep up!

I'm going to start out by posting some projects that I completed last year, but just never got around to posting. Some recipes, some crafts, and some decor projects. I'll attempt to post at least once a week. [I have been missing being a part of blog world. Although with my classes all being online this semester, working on the computer, and keeping up with personal e-mails and things, I just get sick of being on the computer so much! Anyone else ever feel that way? Maybe someday I'll invest in one of those solar laptop chargers so I can work outside in the sunshine.]

I'm also going to work on getting together tutorials for some of the things I made for Project Recycled (which, unfortunately I had to drop out of because of my currently crazy life), such as the wristlet purse below.

Stay tuned for some fun stuff!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Project Recycled -- Week 2

I forgot to post about round 2 of Project Recycled!

Click here and go vote for your favorite. (Should be open for voting through Friday)

Monday, January 30, 2012

Project Recycled -- First Round

The first round of the competition is up over at T-Shirt Diaries! I can't tell you which one is mine, but if you have a minute or two, head on over, check it out and vote on your favorite.

Please click here go and vote for your favorite!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

New Beginnings

I have been absent from the blog world for a while. My life was turned upside down around New Years and it's taken me a while to get back on my feet and figure out what I need to do.

First, I've decided to go back to school. I got married and had children relatively early on in my life so I never finished college. Finances have determined that I need to get a job, yet without much education or experience, my options have been limited (as well as what those options pay!). I will be going to a community college and working towards an accounting certificate, then possibly an associates degree in accounting. Who knows where it will go from there. Looking through the course schedule I've also been tempted to dive into the world of food preparation/ restaurant management (I love food!) as one of my dreams is to make healthy, great tasting, convenience foods available to the general population. We'll see. I'll start with accounting since that has a good possibility of leading to a decent job in the shorter term.

I am definitely planning on keeping up with this blog, although I don't know how often I will have time to post. I still have lots of ideas, need to be creative, and want to share those ideas and creations with everyone here. So I'm not going anywhere. I just may be stretched extra thin for a while.

One thing I will be participating in is the first Project Recycled.

I am a contestant and will be re/up-cycling weekly until I'm voted off. :) It all starts Monday, January 30th. You can click on the button and it will take you to The T-Shirt Diaries where Robin is hosting the contest. There you will be able to vote (until Friday of each week) on the projects you like best. I'm excited!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Leather Obi Belt with 3D Flower

When I was making the belt for my high school reunion outfit I was rushing that day to get it finished in time to wear to the reunion. It was a little rough so I wanted to give it another shot, this time with a bit of a variation (also made using pieces of a former leather jacket). I altered the pattern for the petals and made them into a 3D flower.

I started out by making the petals of the flower. I altered the original petal design to be wider so I could fold it over and glue (using E6000 -- I'm sure there's some sort of leather glue that would be better, but I just wanted to stick with what I had on hand this time).

I altered the direction of the fold so the petals wouldn't all be exactly the same. Hint: Only use a tiny bit of glue, using too much will interfere when sewing them on to the belt.

I clamped them and let them dry overnight. Bonus = I finally found a use for the cute, tiny clamps I picked up on impulse one day -- I'm glad I did, they were exactly what I needed!

I cut out the other pieces in the same way as the previous obi belt, except with wider ties and added seam allowance around the edges of the main belt pieces.

I sewed a triangle piece to each side of the rectangular piece, making sure right sides were together, opened the seam allowance on the back side, top stitched on either side of the seam and clipped some of the excess away at the edges.

I folded over 1/2" around the outer edges and top stitched.

When transitioning from the triangular to the rectangular piece there was some excess bunched up, so I cut a small slit, close to, but not touching the edge, overlapped the sides and sewed.

Then I sewed the ties to the ends of each triangular piece.

I arranged the petals for the flower and secured them with just a tiny dab of glue. I used a spice jar (the perfect size!) to hold them down until they dried.