DIY – Page 2 – Rae Nudson

project wish list

I’m a person who reads knitting patterns for fun. You know, like how people read recipes? I like to see the different stitches and try to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I like to look at complicated patterns and remember that everyone starts learning just one stitch before they can do all the rest. Reading a bunch of great projects, though, means I have a large backlog of things I’d like to make and patterns I’d like to get to.

My dream projects right now are from the Purl Bee, a blog I am totally in love with.

I love these fun coasters. The colors are great–they’d be so cheery in my kitchen. These are pin loom coasters, and you can pick up the kit right here from Purl Soho.
These coasters have a similar pattern to these dishtowels that I also love. Their examples are all in blue, but maybe I could do pink orange to match my new coasters. They have a kit to make these available, too.
Once I’m done keeping my kitchen clean with my new coasters and dishtowels, I’ll settle in with this luxurious scarf. I daydream about this scarf. It’s that good. It would be a dream to wrap up in these bright colors to stay warm on a cold day. (Here’s the kit for this one)
You all know I love handmade things for my apartment. I still think about these cool round crocheted rugs. I’d love to layer some of these under my desk area.
And this pillow is so cute. It is handmade, crocheted, and incorporates my love for needlework in a fun new way. You could make it say anything you want!

I love all these projects. Even though I’m in the middle of several things, it’s nice to take a break and get inspired for the future.

project life: october (week 1)

I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with project life. I think it looks great and is easy enough for me to actually do it every few weeks. I had previous attempts at scrapbooking, but they ended up petering out after a few months. This time, instead of gluing, cutting, and arranging, I’m just slipping cool things into photo pockets.

So this month I am going to step it up a little and make project life pages for each week instead of one or two pages per month.

These pages are for the first week of October. My dad came to visit over the weekend, so I didn’t have much trouble finding things to document. My favorite part of the pages is the scene of the New York skyline at night that I printed out to take up two pockets. It was a panoramic image, so a little narrow. I used the white space underneath to write about the weekend.

Paulie Gee’s, the restaurant we had dinner on Friday night, had postcards, so I included that, along with a bookmark from the bookstore where I go to book club. I also added an image from the program from A Night With Janis Joplin, a show I saw with my dad.

I’ll see how this month goes before committing to a page a week, but so far I like that it gives me a change to include smaller details.

You can see my other project life updates here:

project life: august

For what seemed like a busy summer, I wasn’t always good at documenting what was happening. I didn’t have very many pictures for August, but I still like how it came out. I added an insert to include my post about the Breaking Bad event I went to, and I added a lot of pictures of projects I worked on that month.

I included my Lying Cat embroidery with the tweet from Fiona Staples, the artist who draws Lying Cat. I also added my favorite outfit from the month and the cover of a book I read. I like adding the covers of books here and there to my spreads, I’ve done it in the past as well.

For the right page, I included my knitting and Breaking Bad embroidery, along with a few pictures from outings with friends. I feel like this summer I struggled with keeping up with picture taking while I was out and about. I think project life still turned out well, but this month I’ll focus more on that.

You can see my other project life updates here:

i am the one who knocks (embroidery no. 15)

Well, guys. Today’s the day. The series finale of Breaking Bad. Today we’ll say goodbye–and good riddance–to The One Who Knocks. (See an embroidered version of him here.)

I have never enjoyed a TV show more than Breaking Bad, but my emotions can’t take any more of this. These last few episodes have been nonstop intensity, and the following week is nonstop discussions, and my brain is nonstop fried.

But what a ride, right? It’s been blast. I’m so excited to see the end, but I’m sad for it to be over. I am also worried for the mental health of us, as a group. Will there be a giant sigh of relief tonight? Or stunned silence?

I used green and brown to reflect the colors in the Breaking Bad credits. They are also reminiscent of the desert dirt in New Mexico. When Walt yelled at Skylar that he is the one who knocks, it was an iconic moment in television. We had a new phrase for evil, a new kind of bad guy. And I expect tonight’s episode will be a new kind of send-off–a finale that takes us to depths we haven’t seen before. I can’t wait.

I am working on a project to sew some of my favorite quotes and images from books (and TV). You can see the other quotes in my embroidery project here:

superhero sweatshirt

It’s no secret that comic books are my new favorite thing. But I fell in love with some comic-book-inspired Philip Lim sweaters last year, before I read my first one. They are cheeky and cool–and just fun, right?

Unfortunately the real deal was over my budget. Philip Lim did come out with a Target collaboration recently, but it was sold out at my Target.

So I made my own.

I started with a beautiful gray crew neck from the boys section at Target.

Then I designed my own version of ka-pow on InDesign. I printed my stencil and used it to cut out felt, which I then arranged and sewed onto my sweatshirt. I like using felt for a lot of projects because it’s sturdy and pretty–but most of all because the edges are finished and that saves a few steps for me.

I used top stitching to secure the letters. I could have hand sewn it and made it a lot more perfect, but I wanted the speed that came with my sewing machine. I’m considering my imperfect lettering as part of the comic book charm.

This whole project took me one afternoon–I felt like a crafty superhero.

project life: wedding

Since I can’t stop talking about the wedding even a week later, I was stoked to work on some project life pages over the weekend.

I used mostly pictures from the actual day of the wedding. It was easy to create a color scheme that way since there was a lot of white and black.

My favorite part of these pages is my instagram picture grid! The bride and groom had an instagram tag for their wedding, and it was a blast to check everyone’s pictures. So I printed some out and put them into a 20-coin protector page. I love it. I have a few little hearts I might put in the blank squares, but I also like it as it is.

I also caught up on August and September project life pages, which I’ll share later. You can see my other project life updates here:

wedding present: embroidered hand towels

I spent a while looking for some cute hand towels for a wedding present for my friend Jewels who loves to cook. And then I remembered that I like embroidering things.

So I got some white hand towels and got to embroidering. I made three in different colors, so they can mix and match with their kitchen. Hopefully the new Mr. and Mrs. Panian can use these when they are eating dinner together! Congratulations, you two. I hope you share many wonderful meals.

project life: july

This summer has gone so fast that I’ve just now caught up on Project life. I added an insert for my birthday and two pages for July.

For my birthday, I added a half page with pictures and a page protector with my post of things I’ve learned this past year printed out.

I added some pictures of flowers I got and some cards and tissue paper from gifts. I like how simple the inserts were to make and how pretty and colorful it is.

For July, I didn’t have many pictures of me and my friends, so I used the other pictures I had on hand. The large picture on the right is from getting drinks on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I also added #fatcat of course and some books I read that month. I’m really crushed I didn’t take more pictures from the Fourth of July and all the other fun times this month, but I’ll just have to do better in the future. I think the pages still look nice and I wrote some notes on my date card so I would remember the events.

My favorite was this enlarged picture and the up on the roof embellishment. I think it’s just cute. August is almost over so soon I’ll be doing pages for this month, too!

You can see my other project life updates here:

embroidery display update

I have finally added my latest embroideries to my embroidery display!

I am slowly but steadily filling the space above my bed. I love having them in my home–I love any handmade item in my home. I think it adds originality and personality, and I’m of course also proud that I made them myself.

I’m getting quite a collection, and I’d love to keep going. I think they look lovely as a group. The whole is just as good as the parts.

I am working on a project to sew some of my favorite quotes and images from books. You can see the other quotes in my embroidery project here:

baby blanket progress (4 inches)

A while ago I started on the baby blanket I’m making for my niece. I am happy to say that I have made some progress. About four inches of progress!

I have finished the very first stripe of what will be many stripes of several colors. I still have a long way to go, but each row is getting easier and quicker already. I won’t kid you guys, my favorite part of any project is when it is finished and you can look at this cool thing you made.

But my next-favorite part is when you start to first see what it will become. I started with a bunch of yarn and some needles, but after several rows, I started a contrast color stripe and the Vs of the chevron started to appear. And it started to look like I was making a chevron striped baby blanket. I get this feeling when I sew or embroider, too. If you put enough pieces together or stitch enough stitches, there’s a moment you can start to see what the final image will look like. And it’s very exciting.

When I use a pattern like this, it helps me to print it out and mark off as I go. (I’m following the chevron baby blanket pattern from the Purl Bee.) Each time I finish a row, I mark a dot. And I use different color dots for different color yarn. You can also count, of course, but marking them down helps me stay on track easily. If I ever need to stop in the middle of a row, I mark down somewhere what I just finished. For example, I’ll write k10, if I just finished knitting 10 and am ready to go onto the next stitch after that. As long as I’m consistent in how I mark things off, I am able to stop and start without getting confused.

I’m thrilled with how this is looking, and I can’t wait to knit more. I was a little worried about learning two new stitches to make this blanket, but thanks to YouTube lessons and some practice it’s been going really well. More updates soon!

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