Regarding Virginia Tech

I'm sorry, but the blog will not be updated this week due to the chaos in my part of the world. Keep them in your prayers.

The New Crewel by Katherine Shaughnessy - Review

I found this book in Barnes and Noble the other day, and skimmed through it. The directions and designs are comprehensive, if you can get past the bad puns (Like, "It's a crewel world out there, but you can do it!")

The designs are pretty basic, and nothing that would win the creative art award of super-cool, but they go over all of the basic stitches taught in the book at least once, and are useful. I reccommend this book for anyone who wants to learn the modern embroidery technique known as crewel.

The book currently costs $10.17 on Amazon.com.

Mock U from Takara

Doesn't that just say it all?

Sorry about the posting! Wouldn't you know I got stuck in a hotel that had no wireless internet? There was, thankfully, wireless at the miniature golf center across the street, but I didn't figure that out until today. Tomorrow I'll be back home, though. Vacations. So stressful!

Generation T

Ah yes..Megan Nicolay's book that brought the media's eye to DIYers all over the world. Who couldn't love the all-inclusive, all-encompassing, and oh-so-easy to understand manual of T-shirt reconstruction that is Generation T? Megan Nicolay may not have started the reconstruction craze, but she certainly brought it to the next leve with her book, which contains 108 ways to spice up your favorite T-shit.

I really love this book, the only problem is my lack of T-shirts to play with. There are simply too many projects to take on with your normal wardrobe...the only way to make it work is to go on a shopping spree of indefinite proportions.

That being the only set back to buying this book, I really don't have much to complain about.

Some of the projects are, unfortunately, derivative, but the majority of them are interesting, and certainly not things I would think of myself - at least not without a pencil in hand and some serious fashion brainstorming. What I love about this book is that you don't have to be a super DIY goddess to have some fun with it. There are enough slashing/cutting projects to keep even the least talented of us occupied.

Generation T will run you 15 dollars, unless you take advantage of a super-nifty online discount or something. I, myself, used my B&N members discount. That thing is worth any and all spam email I may get because of it.

Hello Mango!

Aaaah, yarn. I love thee, yes I do. There's something romantic about a good skein of yarn, don't you agree? It's soft and supple, and ready to be shaped into whatever you desire! I love yarn.

Hello Mango, a yarn supplier in the UK, takes yarn to the next level with their awesome collection of hand-spun, hand-dyed, one-of-a-kind skeins. Most are priced below $20, but the prices are listed in Euros, so make sure to use your handy dandy currency converter (there's one connected to Yahoo! if you can't find one or are Google-challenged) if you plan on buying one internationally.

In other news, I've finally decided on a posting schedule. You'll get updates for sure every week on Tuesday, and most of the time Wednesday. Those seem to be my two least hectic days, so I'll be able to blog then.

Clotide's Sewing Savvy - May 2007

Well, this is one of those magazine issues that make me wonder why I bother getting subscriptions in the first place. There are some useful tutorials, and the basics they cover in the projects are nice, but they're not exactly inspirational. So here's what I saw:

- Pillow Trimmings; a really nice explanation of how you get the cord embellishments on the edges of pillows, and how to do it cleanly.
- Scarves with Pockets; convenient, pretty, but I wonder how practical they could be. Still, you could cut the pattern in half and use them for door hangers or something. I imagine they'd fit in lockers.
- Gone A-Maying; a woven cloth basket with flower embellishments, not particularly interesting, but still useful, if you want to learn to sew flowers. Although, in all honesty, it looks like more trouble than its worth.
- Sewing Machine Maintenance; a really, really useful article about how to keep your machine in tip top shape. This is great for newbies and those who don't understand all the technical jargon. Did you know that older machines may lose their programming memory if a magnet is near them? I didn't, but then, I have a newer model (the Sew Precise by Janome).

All in all, I'm not impressed with this issue. It's not all that interesting, but it has some solid, basic articles and FAQs to help you out. A lot of sewing machine care and basics are covered in this issue - it may just make up for all the flowers.

Ikea? Spoka, Spoka!

Forgive me, O God of Blogs, for I have sinned. As in, I haven't updated in all of a month. I wish I had an excuse. You know, my sewing machine rebeled against me and ate my foot, or something along those lines. Unfortunately, my sewing machine is very patient with this poor, untalented DIYer, so I can't hold anything against it.

But nevertheless!

Spoka is a cute nightlight made of rubber. I found him the other day in Ikea, while shopping for planters (I ended up buying a sofa cover, some cork squares, an orchid and two Spokas). Spoka is adorable, easy to plug in, and he lights up my entire room at night. Quite a surprise, considering the room I have him lighting up is the kitchen! He seems pretty child-proof (he was in the child section of Ikea, for heaven's sake) although I wouldn't reccommend throwing him off of any banisters. You turn him on and off by pressing down on the top of his head.

In addition to blue, Spoka also comes in red and green. Their heights vary as well, with red-Spoka being the tallest, and green-Spoka being the shortest.

New updates will come this week, including book reviews, magazine reviews, and something else! I'll think of it, I promise.