Make’n’Tell

Make’n’Tell: Oops!

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Er. I totally forgot I was doing this — I just got wrapped up in the past week and all the awesome stuff I was doing and clean forgot! To be fair, very little of it was crafty and on theme. I’m having a tooth taken out in a couple of days, which always does me in, so I think I’m going to scrap the rest of the month BUT! I will complete the Make’n’Tell during the first part of April (1-15). And I’m going to add an additional couple of rules:

  1. At least one project per week must be from my stack of projects I’ve already got laying around.
  2. At least one project per week must be from Pinterest (or another internet source).

There will be blog posting between now and then, but I’ll see you in April for more Make’n’Tell!

Make’n’Tell Day 12: In Which I Am the Canvas

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After the parade, I went and got a tattoo. Well, the start of a tattoo. This is another big one like my Vader, so it’s going to take a few sessions. I had it all scheduled and everything — it’s not like I went out and got drunk after the St. Patty’s Day parade and decided I wanted a huge tattoo.. In fact, the place I’m going (evolvInk — really nice place, recommended) wasn’t taking walk-ins yesterday for that very reason.

This tattoo is really special to me, because it’s got a ton of very personal symbology. Although I’ve drawn several of my tattoos, this — like Vader before it — really needed a tattoo artist to make it what I wanted it to be. So I did a very rough layout of what I wanted and took it in to Johnny. Because we were downsizing quite a bit from my sketch I knew I’d lose some stuff, which was fine (in fact, some of the stuff I put in was add-ons to take up some of the white space, because my model was quite large).

We talked about what the most important parts were, and he did a TON of work revamping it to make it fit and also retain the important symbols. He did even more reworking yesterday when I came — he’s a true collaborator and just a joy to work with on this. He’s not afraid to express his opnion and share his knowledge about how things will work/not work in the medium, but he’s also super open to changing things up in order to make it fit my vision. I absolutely LOVE his reinterpretation of it and can’t wait to show you the finished piece.

For now, though, a little teaser…my original sketch:

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Make’n’Tell Day 11: Paintin’ Up

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Not my best work. But still fun.

Yes, this is going up two days late. It’s been a crazy busy weekend. But it *is* going up, and kind of the point is to not just flake out if I miss a day or whatever. 

I painted my nails a week early for St. Patty’s Day because Morristown has their parade on the 12th and Jerzey Derby Brigade (that’s my league!) marches/skates in it. (No, I didn’t skate. I am not yet skilled enough. Next year!) (Except for the part at the end with the hill.)

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Beautiful day for a parade! (I am not in this picture. I was taking this picture.)

Make’n’Tell Day 10: Pedi on My Piddies

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Spring has begun sprunging here in the Northeast, so I’m back to flipflops for the duration. Which means I need more than basic red on my toes. It’s been awhile since I did a fun design, so hey, there it is. It’s really subtle, which I’m not sure if I’m pleased with or not. But I’m not changing it now!

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ALSO, I re-did the two rows I ripped yesterday plus a few more, and have now completed the first mosaic section. YAY ME! (I’m actually writing this before it’s done. Let’s see if I’m prescient or just indulging in some wishful thinking.)

And in other, non-makey news, I have a big hole in my mouth (no, you don’t get a picture of it). This one tooth has been a problem for YEARS. I’ve gone from fillings to root canal to post & core with crown…and the other day the crown popped off and I swallowed it. Ulp. To make matters worse, my beloved dentist (who did all the recent work on the tooth) hurt his back a few months ago and hasn’t returned to dentistry. So I went to his associate, who tells me the reason the crown fell out is because the tooth broke, and now there’s not enough tooth to mount a crown on. My options are: gaping hole, bridge, implant. Oh, and by the way, the remainder of the tooth needs to come out and it’ll have to be a surgical extraction because the root has fused to the jawbone. GOOD TIMES. Good, very expensive times.

Now, my aforementioned beloved dentist would totally cut me a deal on the implant (or bridge, but I’ll probably eventually go implant b/c it’s lower maintenance and only a couple hundred bucks difference which at that point isn’t worth quibbling over), because he’s awesome like that and even though it’s not his fault he always took responsibility for when his dentistry didn’t stand the test of time (seriously, though, it’s not him — it’s this tooth). But the new guy has no reason to do that, which I totally understand — it’s just irksome because I’d be going to my guy if he was available.

On the plus side, though, it’s not at all painful, so it could definitely be worse. I mean, it’s going to be painful when I have the extraction, so I have that to looks forward to, but at least it’s not an emergency type situation. Small favors and all that.

Make’n’Tell Day 6: Sooooouuup!!!

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Family trip to the market today resulted in Zack asking if we could make vegetable stew. So, we did. I’m posting this late on my phone, but will update tomorrow with the “recipe.” So, now I’ve actually tasted it and no, you don’t want the recipe. Ick. I think where we went wrong was using green beans instead of peas. I let Zack pick whatever he wanted to put in, so I’m going to chalk this up as a learning experience (for him, I mean). It’s not inedible, but it’s not good, either. (The short version is: pick out some veg you like, cut into bite sized pieces, throw in crock pot with some broth, cook.) I also taught Zack to use a knife (like a good, sharp butcher knife, I mean). Because someone’s going to have to cook me delicious meals when I’m old(er) and decrepit(er), so I gotta start training him now.

Make’n’Tell Day 5: Intangible

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Today’s make is a little different. Today I made a difference.

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About once a month, give or take, I volunteer at a local women’s health care clinic that (among other things) provides abortions. We help women and their companions get into and out of the clinic safely, and do our best to offset the gauntlet of screamers and guilters our patients have to get past in order to access healthcare. For the better part of four hours* I get called a “deathscort” and told I’m going to hell, and most offensively, I have to listen to incorrect medical information stated as fact and I can’t correct them because that’s not why I’m there.

I am there, simply, to help make accessing healthcare as painless as possible for the women who need it. Sometimes they thank me, or a companion does, or even a random person walking past. More often, they just want to get through the gauntlet of protesters as quickly as possible. I facilitate that. And I know that it matters. I know that it makes a difference to these women and their companions.

This is truly the most fulfilling thing I do outside of my family. It is also exhausting and enraging, but it is absolutely worth it. I hope that someday — the sooner the better — I’ll have to find something else to do, because women will no longer be harassed for accessing healthcare. Until then, I will keep showing up on the sidewalk.

*I hear this for four hours once a month. The clinic staff hears it every day. I have such respect and admiration for them — I can’t even imagine.

MnT Day 2: Midnight Run

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You may notice that the time stamp on this post is a bit after midnight, so technically no longer “day 2” as such. But I haven’t retired for the evening yet, so I’m going to say it still counts. Edit: And then the damn thing didn’t post! But it was done and photo’ed and written. Thwarted by technology still counts.

That hot mess up there is a silk chiffon cowl. (I’ll update tomorrow with a pic of me wearing it — it’s actually really pretty. Updated!)

Cowl, worn by me
Please to enjoy my morning face. Also please note, because I feel this shows significant personal growth, there was a much better picture of me but the cowl didn’t look so great in that one.

This yarn (LB Collection Silk Chiffon) comes in one of a kind skeins, and I think this is my favorite so far (I’ve made 3. Or maybe 4.). It works up really quickly on size 50 needles, with a drop stitch row every 4th row. Also, it’s a good thing it works up quickly, because size 50 needles just suck. But! I’m happy it’s done, and I’m probably going to make more, too. They’re just so pretty!

MnT Day 1: I saw a sign

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I made a sign! I was going to make other stuff today but, well, I didn’t. So this is the official Make’n’Tell 2016 sign. I’ll change the day # every day, and maybe add more embellishments to it here and there. Ink on paper, hand lettered. My pen ran out of ink while I was coloring in the “tell.” That’s what I get for not using one of my beloved fountain pens.

Make’n’Tell, This Time With Feeling

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Lola paints
Photo credit: Jennifer Sumilang Painting at Artistic Giraffe in Hackensack, NJ — this would’ve counted if it had happened in March.

I’ve got a problem. (No, it isn’t that I haven’t been blogging. Shut up.) I have giant piles of “won’t this be awesome when I finally get to it” projects lying around. And also, yes, it’s a problem that I haven’t been blogging. Those of you who read my old blog may remember a few years ago I did what I called a “Make’n’Tell”, where I had to make something every day and blog about it. It occurred to me that a Make’n’Tell is just what I need to get those projects cleared out and jumpstart my blogging.

So, starting March 1 (because it’s the day after my birthday and what a great way to start a new year!), I’m going to be doing a Make’n’Tell. I encourage you to join me — if you don’t have a blog just share your stuff on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or heck, call your sister and tell her about it. Whatever gets you making and sharing your creativity. Here are my rules for this go-round — feel free to tweak them so they work for you and your life:

  1. Every day of March, I will make a thing, take a picture of what I’ve made, and post about it here on the blog.
  2. I may not complete the thing in one day, and that’s okay, but I still have to take a picture and blog about it.
  3. The Make can be in any medium, including but not limited to yarn, fabric, digital graphics, food, photography, drawing, painting, etc.
  4. The Make should be either a complete work OR consist of at least 30 minutes of work on an ongoing project. I do a lot of bigger projects, and I don’t want to stop doing them, but I don’t always have time or ability to do a big project in a single day. On the other hand, if I have a small project in mind and it only takes me 15 minutes to complete it, I’m okay with that. And some days I might only have time for that one little thing. So I think that should count, too.
  5. I may not use the same ongoing project any more often than once a week (last time I tried this it petered out because I was working on a big knitting project and blogging about working on the same thing all the time is bo-RING).
  6. The Make can be similar to a previously completed project. For instance, years ago I made several dresses for my daughter. I used an original pattern and modified it pretty much every time. Each instance of dressmaking would count as a Make.

This time around, I’m going to try to focus on those big piles of projects-in-waiting, so to prepare I’m going to start making lists of all of the things I want to get done. Then I’m going to make a list of any additional supplies I need AND procure them. Possibly I will make a tentative schedule of which projects to work on which days. That should use up most of the 11 days I have until this thing kicks off.

You guys, I’m so excited about this. It is going to be FABULOUS!