upcoming week(s)

Today was all about preparing for "routine" and running errands. I drove around Austin a bit, making sure I knew how to get to my interview and seeing how long it took. Then I went grocery shopping: yay for food! Either food prices have lowered or I bought less than usual. My bill was only $25, which I was kind of surprised by, but oh well, I spent any money saved on gas. It's $2.31 a gallon here, which isn't as bad as some places, but there went a quick twenty bucks. Sheesh. And tomorrow I have to pay rent and the cable bill. Some days I just feel so poor, ya know? Well, after I finish typing this post, I'll do the orientation quiz online for my philosophy class tomorrow.

Now for some upsetting news, well upsetting to me at least. I left my external hard drive at home because I think it would just depress me too much to see it everyday. I asked for a quote to have my files professionally restored and they said $700-$1000 ... like hell. But I just realized that what I have lost includes two years of pictures, two years of college papers, and two years of architecture work (all those CAD drawings and photoshop renderings - hours upon hours). Gone. Until I can find a magic solution. Ugh, cannot think about this now. This is why I left it at home! To keep myself from worrying so much about it. But there's another worry. My memory card reader? Yeah, it's dead dead now, not just sort of on-off dead like it used to be. Erg. So I'll still be posting twice a week, but picture posts will be sparse since I'll have to trek to a computer lab to download images from my camera.

Back to happy things, a break down of what I've been doing. 100 pages into "Prodigal Summer" - decent book, not exactly my kind of a read but still enjoyable. It's been a while since I read a book just for fun and it's so nice to read for an hour or so in bed when the world seems so quiet and peaceful. Starting to embroider a piece of fabric. Cut a 13"x13" square of white cloth that I had laying around and I'm embroidering a random curling design on it with a few dark colors. What really sucks is that I only have a 6" embroidery hoop so I keep having to stop and move the hoop around - very annoying. And I made dinner. Well, pasta. And I had a cup of flat ginger ale to go with it ... yeah, did I mention I was a poor college student?

back to normal

Whew. Well, I am finally back in Austin, meaning that now things should be getting back to normal. Classes start on Monday (ack!) and I have a job interview on Tuesday (double ack!). I measured the throw pillows I have and they're 18"x18", then I measured my fabric ... and wouldn't you know it? I don't have enough fabric to make three matching pillowcases. The pillows themselves aren't bad since I just bought them at Target about eight months ago, but they're solid navy blue and boring as hell. And I'm not a big fan of navy blue. Also, I can't imagine why on earth I only bought three since I'm generally not a big fan of odd numbers. So I think I'm just going to go out and buy a fourth pillow and get enough fabric for four.

I also scanned some images from some old sketchbooks to serve as inspiration for my embroidery. Originally I was planning to trace the images with one of those disappearing-ink pens to exactly replicate the drawings, but I have since decided on a more freehand approach 'cause that's just how I roll.

   
I tend to do a lot of abstract line drawings so I think a series of four pillows with these kind of random designs would look pretty spiffy in a college apartment, eh? The little guy ... well I just thought he was cute. Found him in a sketchbook from my first semester of college. I might embroider him on something just for fun, he's just so pudgy. I need to draw more, I do so love it. More meaningful posts to come - honestly!

learning to crochet

   
I'm teaching myself to crochet. Yay! Well, it's slow progress but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Today I went out and bought two crochet hooks, one small 3 mm and a larger 10 mm. I bought the larger one because there are some specific projects that I have in mind which would require such a hook, but since I'm not sure when/if these projects will come about, I'd better not mention them yet.

Thank goodness for the internet. I got hung up on some really confusing online how-to guides, but the website NexStitch has easy-to-follow video tutorials. So I got the single and double crochets down pretty well, I just need practice keeping the stitches even. I'm also trying to crochet a circle (flat) but it keeps curling up even though I'm doubling the number of stitches ... frustrating. I kept practicing with stitches and unraveling it to start over since I don't have much yarn, and by golly, my hand hurts.

spring cleaning

Ah, that time of the year again, when you realize just how much crap you have accumulated. For me, it was mostly papers. Old notes and tests that I always told myself I'd go back and review, but never did and now have no inclination to ever do so. I think the oldest papers were from 2004 ... five years! Sheesh, I can be such a pack rat. So I started the long process of going through all my folders and sorting the stuff I wanted to keep (a very small pile indeed) and papers for recycling. The latter stack is about eight inches high and I'm only about half done.

   
But I also found some pretty cool stuff mixed in with my old school papers. Namely, some black and white images my sister had found in some old book and some old bookmarks that match my summer reading! I borrowed "Mere Christianity" from a friend over a year ago, and since I still haven't read it and we're graduating next year, I figure I really need to read it and hand it back. And then my sister bought me "Prodigal Summer", so I'll read that. I was just uber-excited because I found both green and gray bookmarks that match the covers! Ah, the simple joys in life.

So yes, I'm supposed to be working on projects and what-not, but I'm cleaning and organizing for the time-being with a lot of planning on the side. Once I get back to my apartment and I start a more normal schedule with school, work, and reading, it'll probably be easier to set aside some crafting time. Well, that's the plan. And in even sadder news, froze the hard drive, did nothing, so now I'm kind of screwed. I could shell out for professional recovery of my files, but that costs money which I don't really have.

multiple firsts

Okay, so for some really odd reason, AFTER I go out and buy a new memory card reader, my old memory card reader begins to work again. Oh well. So at least I've been able to download those pictures. I ended up switching out the ribbon for twine because I was starting to run out of the rainbow ribbon ... and I really like my rainbow ribbon! I now have four of the pouches, but I'm probably going to end up making two more before calling it quits.

   
At home for a week or two, so probably won't be doing much in the way of projects. But ... I did buy a new external hard drive and I'm going to try freezing my non-working hard drive, and we'll see how much data I can get off of it. Then I'll be able to sift through my old architecture files and work on my portfolio.

home for a bit

So tomorrow (later today) I shall be leaving for home, or rather my parents' home. Hopefully while I'm there I can buy a new memory card reader and external hard drive. I'm a slave to technology. Anyway, so I'm officially done with the year and now is just the long wait to see what my grades are ... very nerve-wracking since I was on the border for most of my classes. But I have my mommy's wonderful cooking to look forward to. Why, oh why couldn't I have inherited her height or her fantastic-ness in the kitchen? Seriously not fair.


Anyway, since I cannot upload any pictures of what I've been working on, I present sketches I did from a few years back (these date back to high school). I'm thinking about putting them on pillows. The image is of crappy quality (back when I had a crappy scanner) but I think I think if I embroidered it in bright purple or something on a white pillow it would be pretty nifty looking.

Oh, and I almost completely forgot. I made bread the other day for the first time. Saturday afternoon I made bread, and it didn't rise. And no, I didn't kill the yeast. So that ended up being a flat thing of really, really chewy bread. I tried again Sunday, and turned on the oven and let the dough sit on top (at the suggestion of my roommate). And voila! It rose, though the bread still didn't turn out all that great. By the end of the summer I hope to perfect this bread-making business - wish me luck!

progress report

Ah! It's almost been a full week since I've written! But no fear, I haven't been goofing off, just busy. I am a college student after all, so I've been studying for finals an writing final papers. Okay, okay, so that's not entirely true. Yesterday I did spend my entire night watching "Pride and Prejudice" - the BBC version of course, all six hours worth of Jane Austen glory. And today I did laundry, so that was productive, eh?

I've made more of the little pouches, but my memory card reader is being mean, so I haven't been able to upload any pictures. I now have a total of four, and each time I make one it takes less and less time. I also did some research and prep work on a few projects, so once things calm down school-wise, I'll get to working and documenting. Well, after I shill out for a new memory card reader.

first project: organization

There are quite a few crafting blogs that I follow, and I find most of the projects really inspiring. however, I have one main complaint: These people do not seem real. They show photos of their workspaces, these huge tables with great lighting, cute organization, and swoon-worthy supplies. Who's lucky enough to have all that? Not me, I'm a poor college student. Therefore, I present my workspace: the floor of my apartment, with my supplies all stuffed in a box, and books and paper everywhere.

So for my first project, I wanted to create something to organize my supplies and the scraps of my projects since I tend to begin a bunch of projects simultaneously.

Supplies:

cheap fabric rectangles: about 10"x17"

ribbon or cord: about 50 inches long

Process:

fold over (about .5") and sew short ends of rectangle

fold over (about .5") and sew long ends of rectangle

pull cord through long ends of rectangle

squinch the fabric around the cord

gather and voila

After a while I took a break. Got coffee with K at Spider House ... for two hours. Mocha latte, yum. Anyway, it was fun, hadn't had the chance to chat with her for almost a month. When I got back I finished it off (and watched the second Harry Potter movie as well).

   
I just used a piece of scrap fabric to tie around the cord so I can slide it up and down, keeping the pouch closed when not in use. It makes a keyhole where I can easily see what's inside.

Pretty simple. All in all, completed at approximately four in the morning. I think it turned out pretty cool. But I think I need to make a few more and hang them all from a suspension rod or something for them to make a real impact.

Also, I don't know if anyone's noted it, but the reason why this took so ridiculously long was that I hand-sewed the fabric (back-stitched for strength, and because this fabric unravels pretty easily) and I braided the cord. With a sewing machine and any normal cord, this would've been simple as pie.

the beginning of a dream

So today I have decided to go ahead a begin a blog, for real. I used to have one of those anonymous ranting blogs, but those are so passé, but I wanted a blog, this blog, to motivate myself to be productive. Thus, squareby's corner was born.

The plan is for me to write twice a week, and complete at least one project a week. This is essentially a functional little place, a place for me to document me not being a total waste on society. And well, there may be the occasional rant.

In conclusion: Greetings, to squareby's corner.