Crafticles

I think I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm all set to be decoupaging, knitting, sewing clothes and cat items, baking cat treats, painting with watercolors, and needle felting. I hate to be a "jack of all trades, master of none", but it all either is or seems to be so much fun! My computer room is filled with stacks of fabric and bags from JoAnns. I have glaze, shells, nautical charts, wooden shapes, ribbon, sand, baskets, yarns, tags, thread...and not enough time in the day. I may have enough craft supplies to amuse me for about ten years or more. But now that I have a stockpile -- is it possible to be inspired and original when you've been dancing around the same materials for months or years? Can it be just as creative to simply use what you have instead of creating your exact vision?



One of my recent ideas is perfect for taking to work with me. I work as a data collector for the government on commercial fishing boats, so the downtime is perfect for hand stitching cute cat toys. It's that or stare at the wall once you've read all your books. One can only pack so many books before the bag is too heavy to pick up. So I've been making these little birdie cat toys. I love the way the blanket stitch looks around the edges, and it's hard to keep my cats off the feathers and catnip when I'm making them at home. I'm hoping to have a decent stash to bring to my next craft fair at Liberty Hall in Marstons Mills, MA on December 6th. I took a special day off of work for it, so I hope it goes well (i.e. I make the table money back).

I also just made a really nice cat bed from my own pattern. I even lined up the plaid fabric so it's not all cockeyed. It came out really quite nice. Right now, I'm working on a fish-shaped cat bed/tent. It has some great furry fabric accents, and, well it's a fish. How cool is that?!

So I guess that while I am ahead of myself in materials, I've at least been relatively fruitful. But sometimes it's hard to stop sewing and go to the gym. I'll be sewing myself some new fat clothes if I'm not careful. EEK!