Last weekend Don and I both bought decent backpacks and had them properly fitted (recommend!).

Today we packed them full of stuff and took them on a test hike in the national park.

It was a glorious sparkling (hot) day and having packs that fit made such a difference to the experience. The route was around 10km (grade 4/5 difficulty) and though pretty tired we were not completely exhausted.

We have have dreams of eventually walking many European trails. I’m not sure how much practice we’ll need until we’ll be ready to handle multi-day hikes (quite a lot I imagine!), but I am excited to get to that point.

A couple of times this year I’ve grabbed tee shirts from the Don and Joe/Frank discard pile for some silk-screening experiments.

Because I am insane, I needed to repeatedly remind myself I was not aiming for perfection and to just get onto it. The goal was to rebuild creative confidence (where did it go?), stop getting in my own way and get out of my head. And now a bonus challenge of posting items where I can see every flaw!

This is a somewhat photo heavy post to illustrate (and remind myself!) how straightforward** the process is. “Design” in MS Word, print on A4 printer paper, cut out design with scalpel, line up under screen and squeegee away!

The absolutely most challenging part of this for me is lining everything up correctly. This is where washi tape came in very handy. Washi tape is handy for a lot of things – you should totally buy some.

I’m lucky to still have a steady hand for cutting, but I’m not sure I could repeat the magnificence of Joan’s 2009 Stanford step-daughter shirt.

It’s been fun to play around. I will do more I think. The shirts have been perfect for messy crafting classes and other similar activities – and they get a bit of love.

♥

My first effort was inspired by a cheap t-shirt I briefly owned and had to discard because it was hideously synthetically uncomfortable.

I thought about this for ages and finally just got on with it back in April.

This is the first time I’ve mixed white and a colour. This is because colour alone wouldn’t have been very visible on the dark fabric. I wanted to use supplies I had so it was a bit of an experiment. The mottled effect is intentional (more experimenting!). I like it!

Font is: coolvetica (free)

Printed in April

Things for next time: mind the gap between the stencil and frame!

action shot!

♥

As soon as I saw this artwork, I knew I had to do something with that phrase.

I had this up on the wall in the not-craft room for a while in Arial Bold, but didn’t love it. I finally randomly came across a font I thought would be perfect (I think from the Dense Discovery newsletter), so I dithered for an age and then paid for it.

Font is: Sweller sharp (scroll down to #06)

The kerning on “party” in standard word drove me crazy (looking back, it’s awful on the original artwork too). In the end I had to resort to word art and line up the individual letters in a more pleasing way (this is good to know for the future).

Printed in October

♥

And my final of the set. I was really pleased that I could “design”, print, cut and screen within a couple of hours. This ease and lack of overthinking is exactly what I was aiming for!

Font is: akira expanded (free)

Printed in October

hiking action shot!

♥

Next I think something more complex. I am utterly in love with she was a reader of detective novels (somewhat less so the actual art). I might give it a crack. Though it’s a lot of words to fit on a shirt.

♥

** I acknowledge that most people probably don’t have these supplies just kicking around their houses. I sometimes forget this!

At today, AUD 99 translates to:
USD 66.94
EUR 63.40
GBP 54.64
CHF 62.52

For the past week-and-a-bit on the way to the supermarket (which I visit way too frequently for my liking) I pass these poor trees who, despite the green, are not exactly thriving. And becoming less thrivey as time goes on.

They’re not enormous trees, nor are they teensy ones – I guess maybe about my height. Add to the fact that it is summer and they will soon be brown and crunchy, I think $99 really is somewhat excessive (unkind people might call it taking the piss). Though admittedly I have absolutely no expertise in this area.

♥

Because you may not read the comments, you may have missed the excellent Dame Eleanor’s brilliant completion of my haiku from the last conifer post:

Arrive home with a
pretty fried brain. Sleep beckons.
[last line is missing]

Glorious.

As soon as I showed this pattern to Don (just for the lulz) he was super-keen on having it for his music-listening-room. I was full of enthusiasm after the HP sampler, so got stuck in.

Pattern is Field of Fucks from FandomCrossStitchery on Etsy.

Purchased pattern: October 2020 | supplies purchased: October 2020 | started stitching: October 2020 | completed stitching: January 2021 | framed: May 2022

Pattern modifications: replaced the french knots with tiny crosses

Stitched on 32 count even weave of some sort – probably Zweigart again. The weave was very gappy so I had to be very precise – even stitching those dots in the letters individually because any carried thread would be visible from the front. Perfectionists R Us.

Completed! Unlaundered.

There was a long, long gap between completing stitching and framing because I couldn’t settle on a suitable frame. Fortunately unlike with Mr Sparkle, I’d left myself a goodly amount of room around the design which meant I could be fairly flexible.

The vision was for something bonkers-ornate. I expected to magically come upon the perfect thing in a charity shop, but nothing eventuated. Early this year I took it along to the framers and looked at their options, but nothing felt right.

underwhelming

Finally I took to eBay and found this frame. It looked to be exactly what we’d envisioned – though a little larger. After a bit of back-and-forth with the seller on size, I paid a lot more than charity shop prices, but less than professional framing.

regretting i didn’t snag bigger photos from the listing

extremely promising

The frame had no glass (or perspex) and no backing. So it was problem solving time! After a couple of false starts (non standard sizing challenges!) I remembered we owned a perspex cutter and had perspex in the garage from a broken ikea frame. This worked a treat.

I mounted the stitching on felt covered foam-core board (my preferred method), backed with very strong cardboard and secured with framing hardware (which was surprisingly easy to find at the Hardware store). Then I sealed it up professional-style with thick paper-tape.

And I got there!

Another finished product I’m ridiculously pleased with

not in situ

Wednesday is mandatory SML In Office day and I generally arrive home with a pretty fried brain.

Sleep
Beckons **

♥

** this reads like the first like of a haiku, but alas, insufficient syllables.

Time has really ceased to have meaning, because I’m astonished that my adventures in concreting update was in December 2021. I was absolutely convinced that I’d done that class this year.

According to my photos, the last time I made anything with concrete was back in February. This is also insane to me, as I imagined it was only a few months ago.

It is quite fun activity and gathering all the photos together has reignited my interest! I need to buy another bag of concrete so I can make some more things.

♥

Moulds moulds moulds

From two separate sessions – I usually only make enough to fill that tub.

♥

When I bought the supplies for my adventures in dyeing, I also grabbed some discounted periwinkle dye powder. I had no plans for it, but while I was mixing concrete, wondered what would happen if I added some to the mix along with the red additive. Prettiness is what happened!

Moulds = round plastic take-away containers

Planted gifts for Bessie. I think the Grand-cat has now made short work of these.

♥

Mould = fabric soaker container.

I love the shape of this one. I have a couple more of these containers waiting for the mood to strike.

♥

More pretty colours!

Moulds = (mostly) round plastic take-away containers. One on the right is from a plastic plant pot – not super successful.

♥

Tiny house from almond milk carton.

The printing on the carton transferred to the concrete which I thought was quite cool (if back to front). Further experiments with other printed material hasn’t proved successful.

♥

Candle plinths from tea containers – salvaged from the unsuccessful pile.

They have really misshapen holes in the centre – but those are disguised, so all good.

♥

Tiny building selection. I’m keen to further experiment with a tiny factory shapes. This one is far too thin and the roofline not quite right

Moulds = milk carton

♥

It’s very simple and quite fun and satisfying. You should totally try it!

I’m loving framing random pop culture phrases and hanging them around ThePalace(OfLove).

I’m still ridiculously pleased with the bathroom art I made earlier in the year using an ikea pegboard with letters.

For a while I toyed with the idea of a cross stitch or mosaic with the same lyric (how fabulous if it was tiled into a floor?), but the pegboard won out. I do want to give mosaic a crack in 2023, but it probably unlikely to be this.

I now have a giant jar of letters hanging around, and will probably change the words up at some point, but I doubt I will tire of Iggy any time soon.

I have resolved to refrain from a 23for23 next year. I’m realising that I subconsciously find the monthly update so daunting that it prevented me from coming here and writing anything else.

Down with lists! Who am I kidding, I adore lists! I’m just really tired of this one, but I’ll finish the series because I like completeness.

On with the penultimate monthly review!

♥

01. Use the things!
✅ This has turned into a use it or lose it item. Quite a bit more de-cluttering – including some puzzles and colouring supplies to colleagues. I swear I don’t live in a hoarder house, but we have been here over 10.5 years and things do accumulate. Especially when you hold hard to the “I’ll use thing when perfect conditions exist” mindset.

02. Put my feet in the sea
✅ Completed April – and lots of feet-in-Gulf of Thailand in November

03. Buy more indoor plants
✅ Completed: March | April | May | August | September | October
Probably best to have a wee break from the plant acquisitions.

04. 30 days of Yoga With Adrienne in January
✅ Completed January. I will definitely do January 2023 – you should too!
Did some resort yoga. I really want to get back to it. Health is a huge priority for me for 2023.

05. Achieve Big Financial Goal
✅ Completed August!
Next big financial milestone: December 2023

06. Use my dremel.
✅ Completed May! I will post about what I made. Really. No, really.

07. Choose the loving action.
✅
+ Saw the GP about my niggling health issues like a grown up!
+ Holiday was definitely choosing the loving action.
+ Treated self to decent quality new keyboard and new bluetooth headphones to replace sad, old, partially broken, near-death ones
+ Bought amazing cobalt-blue** cossies for holiday – spending more than I ever have on swimwear (which was not a huge amount – but progress!)
+ I even spent money on kindle books which is something I’d not done for an age – mainly because I’ve been trying to avoid amazon, but sometimes all this hard-line position means is that I’m depriving myself of enjoyment.

08. Try/learn one new skill each month
I think I have to say NOPE for this one. No new skills in November.

09. More music through speakers in ThePalace(OLove) on working days.
❌ ABANDONED!

10. Show support financially to creators I believe in
✅ Continued support on Patreon for Fran Meneses, A Small Wardrobe, The Last Homely House and DAS bookbinding. Renewed my Craig Mod special projects membership.

11. Take myself on an adventure in the goget (car share).
❌ ABANDONED!

12. Attend another sound bath
✅ Completed March | June | August
I think I will be back for 2023. Must investigate more padding.

13. Take a photo of the sky every day.
✅ 14/30

15 november: 11:22am (from the plane window)

14. Stay in the country for a weekend
❌ ABANDONED!

15. Update supportive footwear.
✅ Completed Completed January | August

16. Have a serious crack at meditation.
NOPE! I did buy an excellent meditation cushion, but then was distracted – which tells you everything you need to know about why I would benefit from meditation.

17. Go for a morning swim in the local pool
✅ Completed February. It’s been a little bit too cool in the mornings for another dip just yet. Lots of pool time on holiday.

18. Have a Reiki session.
NOPE! 27 days to make this happen!

19. Disrupt the daily routine at least once a week.
✅
+ Thailand holiday was pretty disruptive to the routine.
+ I worked 4 days in office the week before the holiday – not super keen to repeat that one for a while.
+ Went to a ceramics market with Bessie and Don – bought lovely things – should have bought more.

20. Cultivate a healthier relationship with work
✅ There’s quite a lot of change and chaos happening after The Reckoning. I’m retaining my chill.

21. Get a haircut/trim
✅ Completed February | June

22. Experiment! Tiny experiments with all sorts of things!
I felt like there was real progress here, but honestly – what were those things? I have actually no idea. I should keep notes.

♥

** “Penelope-blue” says my Imaginary-Internet-now-IRL friend Alice

Next in relentless crafts sharing: my most recent completed cross stitch which is also my first full coverage piece.

Pattern is from Happy Sloth Patterns on etsy. The pattern is super clear and easily to read on my ipad – which is my preferred method.

We are big fans of Mr Sparkle in ThePalace(OfLove) and I adored the cheerful colour combination, so there was no way I was not going to stitch this.

Purchased pattern: June 2021 | supplies purchased: July 2021 | started stitching (maybe): May 2022** | completed stitching: October 2022 | framed: November 2022

Pattern modifications: I did not stitch the flipped box lid because I found the skewed perspective stressful.

I used 16 count white aida. I think Zweigart?

On with the pix …

Completed – before laundering:

how about that back?

I didn’t set myself up for framing success at all. I hadn’t planned what frame to use before I started stitching – and didn’t leave nearly enough border around the design to give me flexibility with framing selection. This is what comes from trying to split fabric purchased for something else across two pieces.

Fortunately I scored an 8×10 (20x25cm) frame for $8 from Kmart and made it work, but it was pretty tight and there was not a whole lot of overlap onto the backing board (thank TheUniverse for washi tape).

Once done, I was quite pleased with the results!

taken without the glass – because with glass there’s too much glare for a decent photo

Next up is this wave ball. I have the thread, but not the fabric. I think I’ll go for a vibrant white aida again. But I’ll be leaving myself much more space!

I’m not in a hurry to start another piece – it kind of becomes all consuming and I think stifles my creativity a bit in other areas. Counted cross stitch is mostly all about technique and skill, it’s very, very pleasant and comforting – but I’m in a place where I want to stretch myself a little!

(Of course after I wrote this, I totally went ahead and ordered some fabric).

♥

** complete guess, I really have no idea – sometime in mid 2022
^^ though maybe it would have been if I’d stitched that flipped lid!

Kicking off the craft blogging extravaganza with a pretty low effort craft.

Back in winter I made some wee toy mice for the kitties. I stitched them up over a couple of evenings while watching cosy YouTube vids.

No pattern or instructions involved, I just went with my instincts.

Materials:
+ stretch fabric scraps
+ odd bits of string
+ shoe lace
+ dried cat nip

They were a very big hit:

it are my mouse