Spring Break, Easter, and the Bedroom

We had a few very busy weeks recently. Last year for spring break we went to the rain forest, this year we stayed at home. Of course staying at home and "doing nothing" involved bargaining to keep the child happy. The result is that we blew up spring break with a mini Indiana tour.

Wayne White speaking at the FATE Conference.

The first photo doesn't have much to do with spring break, but it's how I kicked off the start of it (which doesn't mean much since it was not my spring break). The 2015 FATE Conference was held at Herron School of Art and Design this year and artist Wayne White was the keynote speaker. So much happy. This is my art nerd equivalent to having front row concert seats or something.

Food and photography

The lady likes food and photo documentation. I took two days off work to make for a four day weekend. The first day of urban exploration we went to a brunch place called Milktooth. She got latte art and a giant pie of a pancake (I guess it was actually a Dutch baby pancake).

Kale pastry; the name is long and starts with an f.

Out taking photos

The final day of my four day weekend we went to a doughnut shop and then walked around to take photos. She kept telling me to get out of the picture.

Mirrors! Finally mirrors!

On Easter we took a lady trip to Ikea. I can't seem to get any photos of that to move on over here. I bought the last piece of furniture for this room and it took me until the next Sunday to finally unload the car. Last Saturday though, I finally got the courage up to wrestle the mirrors again. The first time I tried this (maybe 5 weeks ago?), it did not go well. I didn't have the right supplies and I got frustrated. I spent many hours on a Saturday measuring, drilling, wiring, and lifting only to end the day with sore arms and lots of discarded, broken wire.  I gave up and went to bed. The next day I bought the proper supplies: heavy gauge picture wire and heavy duty mounting tape. It still took awhile to get it right, but this time was much better. I knocked a screw out of the wall while trying to hang the mirror on the right. That had me worried, but it's been 4 days now and they're still holding.

Maybe I'll get the Kallax together by this weekend (just looked at the Ikea website and noticed a price increase on the Kallax).

xoxo,

b

How Not to Follow Directions

Salted Caramel doughnut and coffee at the General American Donut Company.

I'm doing a book review for the site Cut Out + Keep.  This means that I receive a craft book, look through it, tell them what I like, and then make something from it.  That seems straight forward and easy enough.  I chose a project that I felt excited about and I got all my materials together.  I even learned what a hand cranked knitting dolly is.  Nothing knitting comes naturally to me; that thing was/is confusing.

I spent a couple of hours sitting in bed watching a movie and cranking out cord.  Clearly I was over excited about this because I have cord for days.  Really, I have made the project twice and I still have a pile of cord.  Also, don't make cord in bed, sit at a table or something.  My back and my arms were sore.

Okay, back to the project; I made it and it was frustrating.  Then I looked back at the book and found directions that I did not follow.  I made it again, it was less frustrating, and again, I found myself not following all of the directions.  Maybe this project was written in a general way so that the person making it would be encouraged to take a little creative license?  Maybe I'm just not good at following directions?

I already know I'll be making a third version of this project (I just can't let go!) and I want other people to make their own versions so I can see if they follow the directions or do something more like I did.  This has become less about crafting and more about a curiosity of how each person interprets things differently.  Obviously, I need to get back into grad' school. I'm even carrying the book around with me so I can study it.

Soy latte at the Foundry.  They have great diy OSB tables.

Anyway, in between making versions one and two, I went to a doughnut shop and a coffee shop.  The Lady Bean wanted to explore her home city and we were out of coffee.  I probably needed the break because I think I'm obsessing.  Wanna' come over and make a tiara?  Bring yarn.

xoxo,

b