Coloring!

I've fallen prey to the recent trend of adult coloring books.  I purchased two as gifts and then I bought three for me.  In my defense, one was only $3.00, so I feel okay about that.  The Just Add Color series really caught my eye, so the Carnival and Circus ones are mine and the Day of the Dead one is a gift.

Then the cheaper one was an art nouveau book:

I've only colored in the Carnival one:

 And this last one was sent to my mother.  She moved to a retirement-type place in Florida and all her new friends are older ladies, so I told her she and her old biddies can do some coloring.  Plus I read that article about taking up art in your old age can help prevent the Alzheimer's.  (Of course, in searching for that link, I also found google results that told me that putting off retirement, exercising more, antidepressants, and going hungry can also all stave off Alzheimer's...so...)

This one is filled with sassy old folks in their sassy clothes.  I love this lady here.  

Project Graveyard

I have a pile of projects that have been started, but never finished, as follows:

Project: My Husband's Pajamas

I first showcased these pajamas in April 2013.  How much have I sewn since then?  Zero.  They currently live in the bottom of a bag.  Why did they stall, you ask?  For some reason I think they are going to be way too big on him and I just can't bring myself to sew something that will not fit him, which is sad, because he desperately needs good PJ bottoms and has asked me for some, but he doesn't like shopping the florals in my stash.  I should've found a bolt of good, manly PJ cotton at that Textile Garage Sale.

Project:  Little Women

Three months before I wrote about the pajamas, I was trying to figure out what to do with my old copy of Little Women, which is abridged, by the way.  WTF?  How did I never notice that and what have I been missing all these years?  Is there a scintillating sex scene between Jo and that bearded guy** she gets with in the end?  I wouldn't put it past that Louisa May Alcott. 

**I think there's an illustration of a bearded guy, so that's the only reason I remember that.

Anyway, this book lives in the bag with the pajamas.

Project:  I Spy for Trix

Oh, yes.  She gets one too.  I've got the squares.  Now find me the time and the motivation to work on yet another I Spy quilt.   I guess this project is less in the graveyard and more in craft purgatory, awaiting ascension to a higher life form.

Project:  Dollhouse

Also in craft purgatory, because I am not giving up on renovating this thing.  It's just going to take ten years to finish and, by that time, the children will be done with dolls (if they ever even like them).  

Project:  Fairy Book
OH!  This makes me sad...I want to finish this thing like crazy and by the time I do, Z will have outgrown it, so it will turn into Trixie the Pixie Book, which has a nice ring to it.

Okay, I can't go on and list any more partial craft abortions.  I'll stop now...it just makes me sad.

Anus Fail

Remember these neat and tidy pouch anuses**

 **What is the correct plural of anuses?  Anii?

Anyway, I had another pouch all ready to sew up, but I don't think I was quite focused, because when I turned it, the pouch anus looked like this:

That's just wrong.  Ugly, too.  Sucks.  I have two more half sewn pouches and I just don't want to tackle them.  One is really adorable with a little white flower lace applique.  Ugh.  Just one more thing to add to the project graveyard...

See this Wednesday's post for more details.

Wish List

Sometimes I wish that I had thought to call this blog "Jill of all Crafts" or something to reflect that I am just a craft collector and am not a master (mistress?) of any one specific crafty activity.  I have a growing list of things I want to learn/try/do.  Here's just a sampling of them:

Stamp Carving

I took a book out of the library by Geninne Zlatkis called Making An Impression (her blog is here with more details about it).  She made it seem so easy, with the exception of the drawing part, which I really have trouble with.  There's a cute stamp carving kit from Yellow Owl Workshop, but I'm not sure if the $30.00 price tag is what I want to pay to give it a try.  I also wonder if buying all the bits separately would be cheaper.

Crochet

I have a board on Pinterest called Reasons to Learn Crochet and I spend all my time pinning rainbow crocheted items.  Seriously...they are all brightly colored.  If I could live in a world filled with rainbow blankets, I think I would die happy.  I have no desire to knit, though.  

Woodworking

Well, this is something I'm not going to go out and purchase all the tools for.  It's just not happening and, really, the only reason I want to do this is to make a Little Free Library.  My block does not have one, so it needs one, and this sentiment is shared by my next door neighbors.  We may collaborate, because they've got the tools and the construction skills to help put it all together.  That would be great, because, otherwise I was looking at a $280 class.  I did cancel my gym membership, so that money was earmarked for that class, but I'd much rather do something with the neighbors.

Well, I guess that's it for now.  I'll probably think of other things in a day or two.