Craft: along 2009 : May

Dear Donk,

You may not have realized it from my so-enthusiastic-I-made-a-video response to last month's ~along, but I wasn't exactly looking forward to hatching this project.

Like, in theory, I liked the idea of having a chalkboard inside one of my cabinet doors or a cork board for pinning up recipes, but in reality, I couldn't get past the fact that I'd have chalkboard dust flying around my clean dishes or recipes flapping back and forth every time I opened the door.

Yes, I think about things too much, perhaps. These long runs give me lots of time to mull the what ifs about EVERYTHING and sometimes, this not a good thing.

In this case, however, I spent last Saturday morning's long run trying to figure out how I was going to Super Organize a cabinet, while resisting the urge to smear chalkboard paint all over the place. In the end, I just decided to reuse a bunch of containers I'd collected/saved/washed and held aside/stolen from Bubba's belongings to introduce some kind of organization to my most used kitchen space - the baking cabinet.

In the end, I was so extra satisfied and happy with how it came out, I thought it deserved some special recognition, and so I made a video that is further evidence as to my Crazy. Yay me.

Meanwhile, while I was having this soul-searching project crisis, other people in the along were just kicking some serious ass- and all without the "what about the effects of chalk dust on the cleanliness of my gravy boat" drama.

Y'all are stronger folks than I. That is plain to see.

The most impressive ass-kicking I saw, in the Organize Like a Mutha category, was Not Quite Vintage's pantry overhaul.


Now, I'm not going to pass any judgment on the Before situation, because you saw my personal shame of a hundred zippie bags of misc crap, but that After photo is just loverly. And not only because she managed to use every organizational tool imaginable, but also because those things all WORKED in her pantry.

See, I get all juicy when I see these types of contraptions at Target or wherever, like the shelf hangy basket thing or the stair-stepper spice shelf thing, but if I were to bring those home and try to put them to use in my pantry, it'd a big fat hot failure, because I can't seem to get them to get all in there right.

But, NQV? She rocked them all just the way the manufacturer envisioned.

All said, you win, Not Quite Vintage. Congrats! Send me your full name and address to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom and I'll send you off your prize. And you go enjoy that pantry some more - maybe open it and survey its greatness once just for me. If I were in your house right now, I'd be staring in there and probably stealing some ideas. You know, for the day I have a proper pantry.

Now, that brings me to May's projects.

If y'all follow the Craft: blog like I do (although I find it hard to believe anyone is quite as nutty and obsessive as I am), you might have seen potential projects flying by all month. I personally starred over a dozen things and I WAS BEING REALLY PICKY.

I am a known abuser of the Star feature in Reader, let it be known.

When it came down to choosing, though, I went with the projects that solve issues which have been recently slapping me in the face.

Specifically:

• I really need a clock in the bathroom so that I know how long I have to blow dry my haystack before I have to pick up my carpool buddy
• I wish all my tank tops were like these because they're cute enough to distract people from the fact that you're just wearing a wife-beater, which is important given the fact that I wear these year round and in the approaching warmer months, they make up half of my externally facing outfit.

Can you guess what I choose from those rambling clues?

That's OK, I won't make you.

This month's projects are:

Sewing Project: Embellished OR Tie Top Tank

Other Project (Upcycling): Tin Letterpress Clock

Now, for all of these projects, don't get too hung up on exactly how they're executed in the examples. I mean, if you want to embellish a Tshirt or Gstring instead of a tank top, I won't hunt you down and smash your toenails with pliers. And if you want to make a clock from something other than a leftover letterpress card, that's fine, too.

I'm just imagining the photo pool filled with fusible interfacing embellishments and some misc junk upcycled into useful clocks. And also your best examples of a tie top tank, if that's what suits your fancy.

If the pool doesn't fill up with these things, I imagine at least my own house will, as my addictions run deep and true, with tank tops and upcycled goods at the top of that list.

Alright, enough of my blathering. Get ta craftin'.

xo
Finny