By Lisa Gutierrez on 10/12/2010 
I’m not much of a seamstress, but I’m pretty obsessed with this thread, guys. The Gütermann display at my local Jo-Ann is just gorgeous. There’s another Jo-Ann, about half an hour away, that is closing (to make way for one of those amazing super-Jo-Ann stores!) and so they are liquidating inventory. Everything is on sale! So, while I didn’t have much money, I HAD to scoop up some of the pretty thread. Even if I don’t use it all, it’s really nice to look at, no?
I wanted to capture the scene in as many different ways as possible, while Andy slept in, this morning. First, with my regular camera and lens duo–Nikon D40 +35mm f/1.8. Next, with my Lensbaby 2.0 attached:
Then I switched over to film and my Polaroid Spectra. This is my last exposure of softtone edge-cut film, from the Impossible Project:
Lastly, with my Polaroid SX-70 and Impossible Project PX70 film. I’ll probably re-scan this later this evening or tomorrow morning, as the photo gets better as it develops more. I’m shooting for a 20-30 hour window from when I snapped the shot.
Big sigh! It’s like candy to a crafter! I’m going to find a way to display these somewhere around my craft-desk. I have a lot of other thread that actually does get used and sits on my thread holder (I’m a novice at best, so thread lasts me a while), but this would probably end up in a drawer otherwise. I’m off to brainstorm!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 09/25/2010 
I think that’s what I’m going to aim to be, this year.
This is wreath numero dos and we’re not even through the first week of fall. I used the tutorial found here. I used her tips and the circles were way quick to cut. They were 3-3.5″ in diameter and my wreath form is 10″, so I used about a hundred. I KNOW it sounds like a pain, but I think I spent an hour, hour and a half TOPS on the entire thing. Plus, I bought the foam wreath form at the Dollar Tree and the felt was from a remnants bin at Jo-Ann. SO, the total cost was maybe $3.50 or so. It’s so ruffly and pretty. I adore it and want to make a million more.
ohh, wreath bokeh. love&love.
Are there any wreath tutorials you think I should try next? Link a girl up!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 09/23/2010 
It’s fall! Of course it’s in the 80s with a “feels like” at 90, but I DREAMED of cool, crisp air. It was a really nice dream and I’m just going to try my best to be patient for the cold fronts. I’m ready to roast some pumpkins for bread, bust out the tried & true chili and soup recipes, and find a nice sweater for my walks to pick Nate up at school. SO ready!
Anyway, I think wreaths are pretty awesome year-around, but I like them even more during fall & winter. To ring in the new season, I whipped this little wreath up, yesterday. I was originally going to make a pretty rosie wreath, via the tutorial on The Pretty Poppy. It’s insanely cute, no?! I really wanted to add those darn doilies, though, so I stuck with a small group of rosettes. I added the doilies opposite them on the wreath and really liked the symmetry it created.
You can’t really tell from the photo above, but the [foam] wreath is wrapped in yarn. That was probably the most time consuming part of this project. I suspect it took about a straight hour. I need to find a new method of wrapping. After I glued on the rosettes and doilies, I wrapped the empty spots in some lace hem tape I had. It was in a little baggies of vintage craft goods I found at a thrift store. I think it adds some nice dimension to it!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 09/21/2010 
I’ve spent the past few weeks knitting a bunch. I do a lot of my knitting at the extremes of my day–late night after the littlest finally goes down or early morning, after a coffee and a kiss goodbye from both Jason and Nathan.
I’m working on berets. Actually, I’m working on a beret pattern. Because of this, I’ve frogged a few hats. I’m working in worsted weight yarn on about 120 stitches after the beret increase, sooo it’s pretty heartbreaking when I realize I’m headed in the wrong direction, design-wise. I’m hoping to have two different beret patterns done by the end of the month and a little handful of berets to put in my shop.
Because I cannot knit all the time–forcing the craft brings about feelings of loathing and I don’t want that–I tend to pick up little projects between knitting marathons. I finished this pillow on Saturday evening.
I found this pillow case at the thrift store for a quarter and have had it sitting on my desk for a while. I had a body pillow that I no longer needed (hello, if you’ve been pregnant, you know the absolute NECESSITY of a body pillow or two), so I decided to combine them.
I folded up the body pillow and strapped it with some elastic–just tie the ends–squeezed it into the case, chopped off the excess fabric, folded the ends inward, pinned, and hand-sewed it shut, pulling out the elastic before I finished. I did this late at night on Friday (the night I took my littlest to spend the weekend with grandma) and tufted the center on Saturday. Et voila! It’s thick enough to work as a floor cushion when one of the kiddos wants to draw at the coffee table.
It’s the fourth pillow I’ve made for my living room. I should probably line them all up on my little loveseat and take a group photo.
p.s. thursday posted about bloglovin the other day and it reminded me of my account! I signed up a while back, but soon forgot about it and hadn’t even linked my blog. Now that’s taken care of and, if you use bloglovin, you should click the banner on my left sidebar -or here- and follow goodknits! Thanks a bunch, lovelies!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 08/31/2010 
Right before Jason left for Vegas (like the day before!), I came across the first issue of a magazine called Nuno. I saw it had some great projects in it, so I bought it, downloaded it, and skimmed the amazingly gorgeous photos. I figured the boys and I could do some while daddy was away.
Well, Vegas week went by and since it was the week before school (KINDERGARTEN!) I decided to start enforcing a bedtime. Sooo, the projects got put on a back burner. We started preparing for school (did I mention KINDERGARTEN?!) and then daddy came home and then the weekend passed and holy moly! I’m a mother to a kindergartener, now!
It feels like that first day, both our tummies filled with butterflies, was ages ago, but it was really only a week. Sunday evening, I decided we would make masks after school on Monday. I printed out the templates and after we walked home in drizzling rain, we sat down to cut, color, tape, and wear these gorgeous masks. I chose the color scheme for the owl. I let Andy choose two markers for the bear and Nathan exclaimed he wanted his deer to “look REAL.” Nathan cut out the templates, I traced them and colored them (I think I have the only kids who think coloring is boring after about 2 minutes) and cut out the cardboard. I used some ribbon to tie them onto their heads.
They thought they were so cool! To my surprise, Andrew was able to see through the holes. Or one of the holes, at least. He kept coming to me, staring up, then lifting the mask and exclaiming, “HI!” with a giggle. It was ultra-adorable. It was so overcast, though, I didn’t get to get any good photos of them galavanting around as woodland creatures. Maybe this afternoon, if the rain clouds find their way out of town.
I took this photo around 10pm, last night. Everyone went to bed early, including the husband, so I was all alone. Me and my camera. And the owl mask.
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