Day 19: Drawing

Time: 1 1/2 hours
Listening to: Mad Men

Tonight was another night of NOT wanting to be creative! To think! To do anything! But, because of my dedication and loyalty to my challenge, I persevered (insert picture of me in a superhero outfit with a cape flowing in the wind).

My husband and I started watching Mad Men and I whipped out my sketch pad and pencils. I had to distract myself from getting angry at all of the gender stereotypes going on in that first episode (and second, and third, and fourth...). I mostly drew ideas for future embroidery projects that I want to make up for some special people--so I don't want to spill the beans in fear that they may find out!

I'm thankful for nights like this because I really enjoy drawing and unless I was feeling lazy and low key, I probably would forget about my little sketchbook!

Day 18: Knitting

Time: One hour
Listening to: Pawn Stars

We were invited by a friend to go see a movie (The Skin I Live in) so my plans for crafting were adjusted a bit. I was going to start on an embroidery project but thought I could handle one more night of knitting during the movie! Turns out that it was such a crazy movie that I needed to pay attention 100%. So, I ended up knitting later on when I got home. Nothing too exciting...but I am up to 41 inches on my afghan! Woohoo!

Day 17: Knitting

Time: 2 hours
Listening to: Moneyball (watching)

Tonight my husband and I went to On The Border for dinner and then went to see the movie, Moneyball. I wasn't sure when I was going to squeeze in my hour of creating, but good ol' knitting saved the day! Nate held the ball of yarn as I knit my way through the movie! Isn't that so romantic?

My afghan is now 33 inches long!!

Day 16: DIY Tea Wreath

Time: 1 1/2 hours (mostly due to distractions)
Listening to: Away We Go Soundtrack, Pan Am

I've had this project on my mind for roughly one year...and I finally did it! 

I started with a wreath that I had made for displaying Christmas cards. I took down all of our Christmas things only yesterday so I had to do something with it! I removed the wrapping paper and added some blue fancy paper I had sitting around. I made sure to use a gazillion sticks of hot glue to make it hold for a lifetime!  I then found some cute patterned paper that I glued onto some clothespins. The next step was to add the tea bags! I can't wait until my next guest comes over and they can pick out their very own teabag!

My new teabag wreath!

I hung it on the door between our kitchen and dining room!

Up close shot of the clothespins

Day 14 & 15: Knitting

Time: 2 1/2 hours total
Listening to: Golden Globes (watched) and The Civil Wars

I've been a knitting machine! Well, at least a knitting machine for two and a half hours. I am making such good progress on my afghan. I can't decide if I should do a small one or just go for it and make a huge one. My friend, Ian, has an awesome one that his mom made him and I'm super envious of it. So, I'll keep plugging away at this afghan, I suppose!

My afghan so far....

Day 13: Writing

Time: An hour and fifteen minutes
Listening to: Bon Iver

Growing up out in the Minnesota country was a pretty magical time. Most of my memories, actually, have this warm, yellow glow surrounding it.  One of my warmest memories has to do with cats.  We had tons of barn cats. Now that I’m not a five year old, I can’t help but wonder where these cats came from and why was I allowed to play with these half wild cats.  But play with them, I did. 

Poor kitty....

One of my responsibilities as a child was to feed the cats. We fed them once a day and all it entailed was dumping two or so scoops of food on the floor of one of our barns. I would yell out loud and proud, “Here kitty, kitttttttttty!  Here kitty, kittttttttty!” until they all started running at me.  (I’m not sure the yelling was in the job description or if it was just a liberty I took upon myself).  Anyways, I’m not talking about one or two cats. At one point, we had three mama cats that were all pregnant. Two of them had six babies each and the other had three. Now that is a lot of cats! I clearly remember going to school the next day and asking anyone and everyone if they wanted a new kitten.  Everyone agreed to take one. Sorry to all you parents...

My siblings and I would stalk our cats like crazy. We knew which ones were pregnant and how far along they were (mostly a judgment call on how fat they looked).  I don’t have any exact memories of being told or telling my sister or brother that one of the moms had given birth. All I remember is suddenly the three of us racing towards the barns, giggling with excitement!

We had this old white barn that had small cubby slots going all around the sides. It was the perfect amount of space for a litter of kittens.  The only dangerous part was that above the cubbies were a slew of spider webs.  There were some massive spiders. I wasn’t ever too afraid of them but it was a pretty horrible feeling if you got your hair in the spider web while you were reaching down into the cubby to grab a kitten.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I would say most of the cats gave birth in these cubbies. Others gave birth in the hay bales we had stacked up in the barns. Others moved into our gray barn and found a safe little space to create for their babies.  It was a bit more dangerous in there, though, because the space was more open and we had a lot of horses running around in that space.  Another cat we had, Wild Thing, decided to give birth out in the open space as she ran around in circles. (That was terrifying and most definitely does not have a warm, yellow glow around that memory).  But the good, experienced mama’s mostly gave birth in the cubbies.

We would tiptoe around the barns, flashlights in hand, and listen ever so carefully for those little mews.  If we heard anything, we’d pounce! I will forever have this mental imagine of peering down into the cubbies, flashlight probing the darkness, and seeing the mama’s cat eyes glowing back. It always felt like, “YES! I hit the jackpot!”  We’d alert each other to the win and then proceed to fight to get a better look.

We would then wait patiently for the mom to leave her precious babies alone. Sometimes this took only a couple minutes but other times it took much longer. My brother would always be fidgeting on the hay bales and my sister would scold him to be quiet because we knew the mom wouldn’t leave if there was danger outside. But, as soon as she crawled up the walls and left the barn, we’d run over and peer down at them. It was always a bit awe-inspiring at first. There they lay, their tiny bodies huddled around each other for warmth. Their little eyes were sealed shut still which was our sign that we couldn’t touch them.  They would let these little cries out that were just heartbreaking to a little girl’s heart. I wanted to pick them up, squeeze them, wrap them up in warm blanket, but I knew that I couldn’t yet.

What we could do was count them, pick out our favorites, and name them. We had somehow predetermined that I always got the orange ones, my sister got the gray ones, and my brother would end up with the black ones or whatever was left.   One of our main tom cats was orange, so I think I ended up winning most of those divvying up sessions.  One time a little white kitten showed up at our house and then it was a free for all.

We would come back and check on our kittens as often as we could. Their little bodies would grow bigger and bigger until we were positive that the space was just TOO small for them to be in any longer. It was our duty to rescue them!!  But we would always restrain…until their eyes finally opened!   Then we would take turns reaching way down into the bottom and grabbing up our so loved babies!  It was always quite the reach for me as the youngest and shortest. My warms were just too short!

We would then snuggle with them for a bit but then we would put them on the ground and let them try out walking on their little, shaking legs. We’d witness their first steps--what could be greater than that?! My dad would always pretend that he didn’t like cats but when these little babies were born, we took such delight in bringing them to him. He’d pick each one up, hold it gently, and rub it up and down his face with this big, goofy smile on his face. We knew during those times that no matter what he said, he really loved those little kitties. And so did we. 

We moved from my beloved house when I was in the 5^th grade.  I was so devastated. I thought of many ways to sabotage the move but always chickened out when it came for action. We sold the house pretty quickly (or so it seemed) and had to move into a rental house for a bit. I stayed home from school the day of the move because we all knew I’d be worthless at school on such a tormented day!  But on that day as people struggled to move out our large piano and our floral print couch, I went to the barns. And low and behold, I noticed that one of our cats looked a bit thinner than she had been. So I grabbed my flashlight and began my search. As I peered down into the cubbies, I knew this would be my last time searching for my kitties. As I saw the mama’s eyes peering up at me, tears streamed down my face onto her back.  My heart burst but I remember being so thankful for this one last opportunity to search for my kittens. And those little meows were never so precious before!

Playing dress up and using my best accessory, Peaches

Day 12: Sewing Eye Mask

Time: One Hour
Listening to: Bon Iver


I've had some strange fascination with eye masks ever since I was little. I've always wanted one but somehow have never gotten one. For Christmas when my siblings and I were little, we used to give my mom these eye masks that you would put in the freezer and then strap on when they were pretty much ice...all in the name of relaxation. I'm not sure if they have ever relaxed anybody ever, but we thought they would be just perfect for my mom. I'm pretty sure we would just end up playing with them for the most part. I mean, who really wants to put cold ice on their face?

Now I can tell you who wants to put a nice non-ice eye mask on at night...ME. If I can keep the sun out of my eyes, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to out-sleep my husband.

So I saw this nice tutorial here and I instantly sat down and made one. Here is proof of my efforts:

My new eye mask. I made it with aid of the top left drink. Also with the top right object (sewing machine).

It was a nice and easy project! All you need is elastic, fabric, and some batting. 

Also a sewing machine and thread, I suppose. 

                                                                                                      

And for all of you who are just dying to see my eye mask on....

                                                

I'm so cool, I know.

Day 11: Drawing and Knitting

Time: 35 minutes of drawing, an hour(ish) of knitting
Listening to: The Beatles, Another Earth (watched)

Today's creative time started with a brainstorming session on what I wanted to start embroidering. I've embroidered a bit in the past but sometimes it is hard to come up with my next idea. I sketched two foxes, two bunnies, Nathan when he was about five, and a picture of my mom, dad, and nephew. I'm not sure any of them are going to be my next embroidery project but it was nice putting some thoughts down.

I also added a couple inches on my knitting project! So much more to go!

Day 10: Knitting

Time: One hour and ten minutes
Listening to: The Bachelor (watching)

This was the first day that I really didn't want to do my hour of creative time! Ten minutes in to my hour, I kept noticing how tired my fingers were, how slow I was going, how little progress I was making. BUT, I stuck with it and can check today off. And now I'm going to go crawl into bed and finish reading my book!!!

My progress so far!

Day 9: Baking

Time: An hour and a half (ish)
Listening to: First Aid Kit

So I decided to make some delicious treats this evening. This came after making a somewhat complicated dinner which ended up with smoke in the house and a very grumpy me. But, I pulled myself together with the help of good music and whipped up some deliciousness.

Check out these delicious looking treats...

Cookies and Cream Oreo Bark by Bakers Royale

Peanut butter pretzel bites from Two Tiny Kitchens

My bark ended up being a bit thicker because I used more white chocolate than they suggested but I like how it turned out. And my husband really likes how it turned out. My peanut butter pretzel bits ended up looking a lot messier than the picture but messier is tastier, right? Right?? 

My favorite part of baking/cooking is probably being able to wear the apron I made last year! My friend sent me the fabric from Sew Mama Sew for my birthday and I instantly loved it. I saved it for something special and used it for my apron!

Me and my apron 2011--going steady ever since