Things I want to make:

1. This crochet headband thing. Spoiler- the only reason this is on the list is because I haven't quiiiite finished crocheting it yet. Guess what the next blog will be about? (yep, another Maybe Matilda piece!)

2. Make more quilts/get better at it! You may recall that my very first real blog post was about a quilt I had just finished. I like that quilt and I want to make more. Bigger! Better! Stronger! Faster!

3. One of those crochet hook organizer things. I definitely have enough scrap fabric to whip one up now, but what I lack is the time or attention span. Perhaps over the summer.

4. Exciting jewelry. One of my friends knows the secret, but I like the idea of designing my own stuff to go with my outfits.

4. Renovate a piece of furniture a la 'Cupcakes and Cashmere'. I am so in love with her decorating skills!

I'm not saying to expect to see any of this, but I'm still banned from non-necessary walking and will soon be an unemployed college graduate living with their parents and having nothing to do. Plus, potential future cameos by my little brother (who's six inches taller than me). I know the chair thing at least would interest him.

$7 Dress

It's so interesting that it's almost painful to look at!

Since I'm moving in two weeks and I'm not emotionally attached to enough of my belongings to haul them 800 miles, I've been going through and either trashing or donating a lot of things. Yesterday I dropped off another huge bag of clothes at Goodwill, and decided to go inside and look for some cheap new clothes I could experiment with. I did hit the jackpot after about half an hour of digging- two retro-looking dresses that together cost $14. The other dress will be blogged about once I've had time to do something to it.

The retro dress took a lot of staring at by me to decide what to do to it. I liked the cut of the neckline and the print. Hated the sleeves.

Horrible photo. I don't really look like a purple elephant, I swear.

With my awesome seam ripper I was able to remove the sleeves without bothering the rest of the dress. I also *ahem* lowered the front a little for some cleavage showcasing.

It was almost painfully bright outside. That's New Mexico for you. Go watch a western.

And that was all I had to do to add an exciting new dress to my summer wardrobe for nearly free. And versatile- I had a cami underneath for everyday stuff, or I could ditch the cami for boob-appropriate events, like barhopping nights!

The muffin I ate was delicious too.

The Zen of Yarn

(My current project, you'll see it when it's done!)

I taught myself to crochet when I was in high school. I was a very angry, frustrated, restless goth kid, and unfortunately I was also smart (don't worry, college fixed that). 'No Child Left Behind' was such a priority that I, an advanced student who did nerdy things like read big books for fun, was left to fend for myself while my school focused on raising its state test scores. Like a true rebel, I decided to learn to crochet.

Mostly I checked books out from the library, dug up my mom's old 1970s how-to-crochet books, and looked stitches up online, and I discovered how relaxed and meditative I got when crocheting. While my hands have something to do I can zone out and think things through, and then wear the stuff I make when I'm done thinking!

For those of you who find inner peace in yarnwork, what got you started?

School spirit boot

The nutshell version of my medical history is that somewhere down the line I became bad at walking. I have a deformed inner ear so my balance is crap, and in the process of losing it I tend to sprain things. Last year I had one ankle surgery, and now I'm in the walking boot for the other foot due to torn ligaments, possibly looking at another ankle surgery. So this boot is on me a lot.

On a related note, I am graduating college in three weeks and will be walking across the stage in aforementioned walking boot, so I decided to jazz it up a little with stickers.

Car decals! There's one on the other side as well. This snarling, angry-looking wolf is the mascot out here, and silver is one of our school colors. Conveniently, black is another so in itself the boot won't stick out too much from a color scheme perspective. I'll be limping across the stage in style!

LOVE Shirt

The backstory:

I just had to try this myself: Floral Love Tee- Maybe Matilda

My project:

Do it. For the most part I followed Rachel's method, the exception being that I didn't iron the letters on, I sewed them on. And they're not floral because I prefer retro.

Total cost: $4.54!

Unfortunately they only sold man-shirts in the craft section (no adequate shirts on clearance), and a little square of fabric was enough for the letters.

Altered shirt to be girly cut, and sewed the letters on! Cheap LOVE shirt for me!

Retro Quilt

The backstory:

I was home for Christmas last year, and one evening one of my brother's friends came over for awhile. She brought a quilt she was making, and I sat there entranced while she worked on it. After that, one of my new missions in life became to make a quilt.

The project:

Unfortunately I am on a very tight budget and so, after googling around for ideas, I decided to make a jelly roll quilt. There were several reasons for this- I already mentioned budget, but also I didn't want the problem of trying to creatively mismatch a dozen fabrics and measure it all out, and I wanted an easy quilt pattern to work off of (no exciting bits or weird shapes).

So with that in mind I purchased two jelly roll quilt kits which consisted of 2.5" wide strips of assorted fabrics, and thin batting so it would be cuddly but not ovenlike. The quilt turned out to be a good size for cuddling on the couch like I wanted. It worked out to be roughly 4' by 6' once finished.

I was listening to Futurama while I finished it. I am bad at self-portraits.

And testing. Futurama is still on.

Intro

Small intro, real quick-

Hi! I'm Madison (it was a boy's name when I got it), I'm 22 and as soon as I graduate college next month there will be nothing to distract me from the fact that I have been unemployed since 2007. In this forced leisure time I've really gone craft crazy, and started a yearly trend of learning some new form of crafting every year. Last year was sewing. This year is quilting. 2009 was knitting, etc.

I can blame my mom for my passion for making things. Her escape during raising my brother and me was paper crafts, such as rubber stamps, scissors with exciting patterns, scrapbooking, etc. Sometimes she'd take me with her, and although I couldn't gossip with the grown up ladies when I was 12, I had fun making clever Christmas cards with them. Although artsy hobbies do run in the family- one of my grandfathers carved wood, one of my grandmothers painted, my brother is in theater and sound.

It's hard to be consistent about blogging given my tendency to improvise and not plan anything, however I'l definitely update when something crafty happens. The next blog will be about this quilt I've been working on slowly (so slowly) since January, which I'll be finishing this afternoon. I'll start compiling a list of the crafty blogs I love reading as well.

So hello!

Current projects:

Crochet mesh top

Retro quilt