Tag Archives: crafts

German Christmas Market …

Posted on December 7, 2013 by mvobsession | Comments Off

For our weekly Saturday morning coffee outing Deb and I went to the Lake Mohawk German Christmas Market in Sparta, New Jersey. We’d never been before and since it was a beautiful day off we went.

I’m glad we did, it was fun. Lots of German food and drink, friendly people, great Christmas music and a gorgeous view of Lake Mohawk.

Also lots of pretty things to look at and be tempted by.

Nice day

Comments Off on German Christmas Market …

Tagged christmas, crafts, Events, holidays, New Jersey, Photographs

Our Cross Stitches …

Posted on November 25, 2013 by mvobsession | Comments Off

My mother did these two counted cross stitches over 80 years ago.

Gay Head Lighthouse still had the lighthousekeepers house attached to it.

Only 4 lighthouses instead of 5 on the Vineyard map – do you know which one is missing?

My counted cross stitch of Gay Head lighthouse done in 2004.

My map done in 1993. Which lighthouse is missing on mine ?

(Edgartown lighthouse is missing on moms.. East Chop on mine)

Comments Off on Our Cross Stitches …

Tagged crafts, Family, Lighthouses, maps, Martha's Vineyard, Photographs

Eagle Eye …

Posted on September 25, 2013 by mvobsession | Comments Off

The sun was at just the right angle to shine in the eyes of this wooden eagle sculpture. Isn’t he beautiful.

- by Joan -

Comments Off on Eagle Eye …

Tagged Birds, crafts, Photographs, sculptures

Project 12 – A Saturday In April …

Posted on April 21, 2013 by mvobsession | Comments Off

(I’m posting a day in my life as part of a project that

Karen at This Old House 2

is doing.)

Saturday April 20, 2013 was the 3rd New Jersey Garden State Yarn Crawl.

This was the 3rd one for Deb and me. Deb, by the way, has a great site where she reviews knitting books, go take a look.. Knitting Scholar.com

Now back to our scheduled crawl.

First stop.. The Stitching Bee in Chatham, NJ. Nice shop, nice people working there and they carry Juniper Moon Farm yarn. We are BIG fans of JMF and Susan Gibbs who started it.

Second stop, the beautiful town of Madison, NJ

Madison is home to three colleges… Drew University (where Deb graduated from)… Fairleigh Dickinson University and the College of St Elizabeth…. and

The Blue Purl knitting shop.. this is one of the nicest knitting shops… friendly people, lovely yarns, great location.

Time to refuel… one of us had yogurt, one had coffee and cake – not naming names.

Next stop… Trillium Yarns in Morristown, NJ.

Trillium just moved into a bigger space and it’s gorgeous. Trillium Yarns is large, airy, bright and a cheerful place with a hugh selection of yarns… it’s a delightful place for knitters. Beverly, the owner who is seated at the desk is talking with Deb who is a ‘new’ old friend.

Let me explain that…

Deb and Beverly were among the original shareholders at the Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm which Susan Gibbs started before she began Juniper Moon Fiber Farm. Back in April of 2008 Deb and I were at the MV fiber festival as was Beverly… only we didn’t know that until last Sep when we stopped by Trillium and started talking about Juniper Moon Farm yarn. Love these small world moments. Continuing now with regular post.

By now we were done crawling and headed home to walk. This is Deb & Chappy but it’s not from this walk as I didn’t have my camera… obviously this is from a previous walk but the walkers are still the same.

Debs loot… can’t wait to see what she turns it all into.

Refueling time again… 2 slices of pizza and 1 eclair… and then…

Walking it off here… looking at this view…

8 p.m. is movie time on Saturday night… tonight’s feature…

which carries on the yarn theme of the day because look what Rapunzel’s doing…

And so a delightful Saturday in April comes to an end. By the way, Deb says I’m the best mom ever. Know why? Because with all the yarn crawls and visits to yarn shops and fiber festivals…. I don’t knit !! But she does and I love spending time with her.

- by Joan -

Comments Off on Project 12 – A Saturday In April …

Tagged crafts, Martha's Vineyard, New Jersey, Photographs

It’s Worth It

Posted on March 24, 2013 by M. Gingras | Comments Off

When I was pregnant with Peanut, I managed a small women's clinic which was a 45 minute drive from my house. It was the middle of my 3rd year at that location, so the scenic drive through southern Wisconsin was monotonous. I loved to spice things up by singing or stopping off at local small shops or restaurants on my way to and from work. So, it's no surprise to me now that Vincent loves to ride in the car, sing along to my favorite music, and even have the occasional mother/son dance party at the shop and at home.

Vincent saying "smile" instead of actually
smiling for the Boys Will Be Boys photo shoot

Lately, I've had to start calling him Mr. Sassypants, because, like his mommy, he can be quick to respond to comments with a roll of his eyes or a, "Don't even go there." I can't decide if it's annoyingly entertaining or entertainingly annoying. My answer will change depending on the day. Like most moms, especially ones that stop into the shop, it really depends on what's going on that day, or how sassy he actually gets. Three going on 13, Vincent may even lecture me on how I'm supposed to be organizing things in the shop. Maybe he takes his title of VP of Sales and Marketing a little too seriously (then again, he did insist upon that title).

Am I giving a little too much credit to my son's intelligence? Not in the least. For almost 2 years, I've been his interpreter. I picked up what his nonsensical babbling meant from an early age, and you cannot imagine the relief it was for him when he noticed that I was starting to understand. It's almost as though he was learning English as a second language.

With all my projects going on, I've had to come up with my own way of communicating with myself in order to keep track of everything. I've never been one for writing anything down, drawing diagrams, but I did like making lists. I occasionally ask Siri to remind me to pick up my medication, but a lot of it just stays in my head.

On the Lido Deck of the Carnival Legend cruise ship
wearing the All the Stops Dress that took
about a year to knit

It's been a process: teaching myself how to sketch an idea so that I don't forget about a cool design; remembering to eat my breakfast, even though it's sitting right in front of me; and yes, responding to emails and writing a journal or blog entry. As someone notorious for taking on too much at once, I'm learning how to say "no" to more projects, or putting some things on the back burner while I work out other, more pressing items. I believe they call that prioritizing. Meh.

I don't like things to be too structured, that's just not how I function, but I know that if one day I'm obsessed with knitting a certain project, I have to tell myself, you only have until midnight before you do something else or you can only work up until this row on the chart. Then, I make myself take a break, go to bed, take a shower, etc.

And so far, it's working. I've got one pattern in testing, three that are in the sample stage (knitting a sample/taking notes in order to write the rough copy for testing), and quite a few sketches that are currently just ideas that are looking for the right yarn, colors or designer call. Is this what professional designers end up doing? If only I could talk to someone like Debbie Bliss or Jenny Watson, or anyone who churns out more design ideas than I'd know what to do with.

Could those same designers also run their own yarn shop while caring for a toddler and keeping up with other fiber related hobbies? Who knows? I feel like I'm barely holding on to sanity at times, but all I know is that I'm enjoying it ten thousand times more than all my other jobs combined. And part of owning a business is about taking the risk, not knowing if your gamble will inevitably fail or if it can continue to sustain itself indefinitely.

Me dressed up as Aretha Franklin after the
Carnival Legends show with the cruise ship dance
staff member assigned as my "escort" for the evening

I wish I could know that one day all these days of struggle would mean something. Will I be able to make this a career or will this just be a couple of years where I tried something that didn't work? It's worth the shot. Though word on the cruise ship was that, if all else fails, I'd probably be able to make a good living as a singer. :)

Comments Off on It’s Worth It

Tagged children, crafts, knit, knit design, Knitting, local yarn shop, LYS, pattern, patterns, project, publishing, yarn, yarn shop

A trip to WEBS

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Julie | Comments Off

WEBS is not terribly far away but it’s been quite awhile since I made the trek out there. When I had the chance to visit with a friend, I jumped at the opportunity because it’s a much nicer drive with company. I picked up a couple lovely balls of Chadwick, a few skeins of undyed sock yarn, some mink yarn (MINK!), and some US 1 1/2 circulars that are so hard to find. The first photo gives a vague indication of the cavernous infamous “back room”.

Comments Off on A trip to WEBS

Tagged crafts

Spring, err, Winter cleaning

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Julie | Comments Off

After a year in transition, the sewing room was a complete and total mess. I had added some awesome Elfa drawer units for organizing but things were near the window and crammed into whatever space was available with no rhyme or reason. Then I revamed my ironing board and supersized it for quilting but it was so large that it blocked easy access to the storage closet. With Jason home for a week and available to move furniture, I decided it was high time to buy those last couple Elfa units and have a proper re-organization session. I pulled out a slew of non-crafty things so that the craft room is now truly a craft room. I moved the supersized ironing board to the wall opposite where it doesn’t block anything. All cloth and thread is now safely well away from the windows. And wow, so much more floor space is available now! The photo at the bottom shows the phenomenal mess when I was about halfway through. I could still stand to organize my fabrics more logically and the quilt books need some sort of a system, I just don’t know what. I also realized that my clamp lamp pointed at the ceiling provides much better lighting than pointing across the room. It’s so lovely to again have a tidy bright space to work.

Comments Off on Spring, err, Winter cleaning

Tagged crafts, quilting, Sewing

Copper Leaf Mobiles …

Posted on December 2, 2012 by mvobsession | Comments Off

(JFJ mobiles ~ Greensboro, NC)

Comments Off on Copper Leaf Mobiles …

Tagged art, crafts, decorations, Photographs

Heffalumps and Woozles

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Julie | Comments Off

Recently I stumbled across this adorable pattern and new it would be a fabulous birthday present for Madame Purl. It arrived double quick , along with a kit, and I sewed it up immediately and popped it right in the mail. It seems the mail system hasn’t yet recovered from Sandy as it took a couple days longer than usual to arrive so it was a bit late for her actual birthday. It’s a really fun little pattern and very detailed. I think it turned out pretty nicely and I was able to use some of those vintage buttons I keep collecting.

Comments Off on Heffalumps and Woozles

Tagged crafts, Daily Happenings, Sewing

Jacob’s ladder progress

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Julie | Comments Off

These are not fast squares to sew but they are a lot of fun! There’s a lot of cutting and trimming involved so they start off really slow and then finish up fast. I also had a chance to make some soy candles for Daniel. I added half an ounce of scent per pound of wax and learned to let the wax melt thoroughly before pouring. I used paper plates with holes in the middle to keep my wicks centered as the candles cooled. They turned out pretty nicely!