Thing-a-day.com

Things my office smells like today, according to varying reports from co-workers

1. Pancakes

2. “Airplane”

I am having a week in which I am basically never at my apartment, let alone having time to make Things.

Yesterday and today I made these handy Left and Right arm warmers for my friend Meghan. One pair is elbow-length and the other just covers hands and wrists. They’re made out of navy and purple fleece. These were actually supposed to be Christmas presents, but I’m a bad friend.

So I just finished grad school in the fall, and I’m trying to “transition” to my post-school work life. One of the big projects I am trying to undertake as an adult is a Proper Grown-Up Bed, instead of the 20-year-old mattresses inherited from my parents, set up on the floor. This is a tiny step in the right direction, as I research the best platform bed frame… To keep me motivated.

It looks uneven, which is weird because I measured! And hammered my finger! Actually, now that I think about it, maybe (a) my whole bedroom is crooked or (b) I, myself, am crooked and am therefore not holding the camera straight.

The second, weirdly focused picture shows closer-up. I strung up some recycled industrial felt hearts from fine etsy merchant etcetera media (BUY HANDMADE!) on a piece of thread strung between two nails. This was a quick and dirty project, I’m happy with how it looks, and if I get tired of it I can so easily take it down. The only thing I’m sad about is that I didn’t order more of the hearts, because I can think of about 50 more things I would like to do with them…

Yesterday I made a large number of Mithril Shield Spikes. Then I sold them in the auction house for GOLD! Warcraft brings out all my capitalist ambition.

(Be back tonight with something proper and crafty instead of virtual and blacksmithy)

I made potatoes and stuffing in my crockpot. I also revised my resume and wrote a cover letter to apply for a job. Two Half-Things make one thing.

For yesterday and today: I made a quilted throw! This is actually a belated valentines gift for my man friend. (Although also kind of for me, because I am always cold at his house) The top picture shows the whole thing, with the applique. The bottom shows the mitred corners, the neatest I have ever made. (It has to count for yesterday too, because I did all the edging or binding or whatever you want to call it yesterday, and it took a LOT of ironing. The fabric is Belinda cotton from IKEA, and I love using it to edge things because it is so easy to tell if you’re making straight edges. It also reminds me of atoms. SCIENCE!)

I’m happy with how this turned out. The fabric I used was already quilted–green on one side, pink on the other. This means that this is really a cheaty-quilt. A friend had it in her fabric stash, and gave it to me because she didn’t think she would ever use it. She, in turn, had gotten it from her mom, who didn’t think SHE would ever use it. I’d like to think that this fabric is happy to have finally found its destiny. And I had some left, so I think I will make a quilted bag of some kind.

With some imaginative work, this project also happens to fit the weekly themes of “reversal” (it’s reversible, one side is pink the other green) and “something for home.” However I can’t take credit for this, as I just saw the themes AFTER I posted the project. Serendipitous theme compliance!

Something on the theme of “spying.” This one will just go in the notebook when the ink dries. The glasses and moustache were printed old school with potato stamps and block printing ink. The text in the background comes from this NYT article about surveillance.

Songs for the End of the World
Waiting for the End of the World - Elvis Costello
The Songs That We Sing - Charlotte Gainsbourg
Music is My Hot, Hot Sex - CSS
Impossible Germany - Wilco
The Temptation of Adam - Josh Ritter
Busting Up A Starbucks - Mike Doughty
In Our Bedroom After the War - Stars
The End of the World - The Cure
Novocaine for the Soul - The Eels
When The World Ends [Paul Oakenfeld remix] - Dave Matthews Band
Water - Ndidi Onukwulu
Until the End of the World - U2
I Get Around - Dragonette
It’s The End of the World As We Know It [and I Feel Fine] - REM
Still Alive - Jonathan Coulton

Feb. 9 - a map of our weekend

Feb. 10 - the last heart.
The last heart was done with screenprinting ink and fabric spray paint on fabric. I’m less than thrilled with how it turned out. I haven’t decided whether to frame these or not. And tonight’s Thing didn’t get made. I did swim 40 lengths of my pool, though, and I made some pasta with zucchini. And I think I’m going to the craft store tomorrow, so there can be more craft in my future. I need some googley eyes. Oooh, and resin…

Actually, I guess you could count this:

It’s me as a weird hybrid zoo animal. You can make your own here: build your wild self. Cop-out, you say? Pshaw! I also made a very nice spreadsheet in Excel at work! Together, those should add up to one Real Thing.

My daily Thing for today: a set of anatomical heart drawings. I did them freehand based on a clip art illustration I found using google image search. Both are drawn with red marker, sharpie, and my favourite Staedtler coloured pens. The one on the right is embellished with decoupaged papers and sewing. I have never used my sewing machine on paper before and I was pleased with how it turned out. I plan a third one in the series using black screenprinting ink on red fabric, but that is going to be a much more labour-intensive project for a more ambitious day.

I’m not too pleased with the photos–they look a lot better in real life, especially the one on the right which has some texture. But that is the way of it.

This case folds over to prevent them from falling out…. an improvement over my last design. I added the grommets because I like the idea of being able to tie the tags from the needles to the case, so I don’t lose track of what sizes I have.