The CBG Blanket Finished :)

I gave the CBG Blanket to Amber & Chris yesterday at the family get-together yesterday... I truly had separation anxiety when I handed it over :-/  They really liked it & of course everyone said it was a 'fertility' blanket **rolls eyes**

Packaged & ready to go :)

Amber loved it! Yay!

Not so Blue Monday #6...

Sometimes work leaves me feeling quite drained & frumpy half way through the day...

I'm having one of those "well... this is as good as it's going to get" days.  Where your hair isn't how you want it & your pants look funny & your shirt is suddenly shorter than you remember... You trip up the stairs & sweat to death in the car...  Today is a turn around & go back home kinda day. 

An "I'd rather be knitting" day even though I'm not really fond of knitting... I'd rather be doing that than being here in the office.

But... not so blue?

The Not so Blue concept keeps me looking up. I'm looking at the sky & the clouds. I'm feeling the breeze on my face (between the sweltering car sessions). I'm even blogging in the quiet after my supervisor has gone for the day (and the next 2 days!!).  It's not really so blue... and to prove it, I doodled this:

Happy Not-so-Blue Monday!  ^.^ I'm feeling better as 5:30 gets closer & closer.

The Fritz Project

Good Sunday afternoon!  I hope your weekend has been pleasant.

On Friday afternoon, Lamar & I visited one of the local animal shelters to 'play with the dogs less fortunate than mine' as I like to say.  Whenever you go to an animal shelter, the dogs have their "please adopt me" faces ready. Anywho, on this particular trip, we met a number of adorable dogs ready to be adopted.

Click for Petfinder Website

The point of this post is a dog that is not pictured.  His name was Fritz & the attendant said he had been sitting in the same corner for 3 days.  He was scared of everything & everyone. She climbed into the corral with him & tried to coax him out of the corner... he didn't move... just crouched there with his huge scared eyes.  Sadly, because of his immense fear, they determined that he wasn't fit to be adopted. So he was taken off of the adoption list & scheduled to be put to sleep. :-( When the attendant told us what was going to happen to Fritz, she got teary eyed... I can only imagine how hard it must be to work with these dogs everyday & then have to put one down for any reason... let alone because it's so fearful. 

I know... sad story... I cried for a while because I wished there was something I could've done for the little guy.  So I've decided that while I couldn't do anything for Fritz, I can do something for the rest of the dogs hoping for homes.

The Fritz Project is a donation project.  I am going to make blankets for the shelter dogs- crochet, knit, sewn.  All handmade. All donated to the animal shelter here in Huntsville.

The beginning of the first Fritz blanket.

Kiva is my own shelter dog. Give pet adoption a try. It's very rewarding!

If you'd like to join in, you are quite welcome to come spread a little puppy love!

Thursday, Friday Happy Days!

Afternoon!

The past couple of days have been highlighted by some pretty awesome experiences for me :) I wanted to write about them earlier, but I was soo tuckered out from all the running around that I passed out both nights.

First, Thursday was the first Sidewalk Arts Stroll of the summer.  The Stroll happens each third Thursday of May - August.  It was really nice, but the best part was meeting these two ladies.

Me, Melissa L., & Laurie P.

Ms. Laurie, of Fly Creek Farm, dyes her own wool & does a lot of really cute felting. Her site is flycreekfarm.com.

Ms. Melissa is a local spinner & maker of drop spindles among other artistic things. Her blog is artinthewind.blogspot.com.

Spindle made by Mrs. Melissa & roving from Mrs. Laurie :)

Both of these ladies were very helpful when I told them that I just learned how to spin at Panoply a few weeks ago.  They gave me tips on drafting (which seems to be my biggest spinning hiccup) and some info on upcoming fiber arts festivals & other yarn-lovin' goings on.  They also gave me some online resources for spinning. :)

Fiber people are so friendly!

On to Friday.  Since I work at an SDA school, my Friday shift ends at noon so I have a few hours to get errands run or finish the church bulletin before Sabbath.  Often times, Lamar & I will use that time to find new spots in Huntsville.  Yesterday, we went to the farmer's market for some local honey (I have pesky allergies & he has asthma). After checking out the produce, I wanted to find a yarn shop called Fiber Artworks & he, so graciously, agreed.

It was a bit troublesome to find since my only directions were "it's on Governor's"... But finally, after searching Google & taking the directions on her facebook page- we found her lovely shop.

I have NO idea how we missed the huge yarn ball & knitting needles on the front :)

I didn't take any pictures inside, but the owner, Mrs. Anastasia was really friendly & helpful.  I really liked that the first thing she asked was what I did (crochet, knit, spin, felt...).  It's great to know that there are talented ladies that are willing to help me with my fledgling knitting & spinning.

What are your favorite local yarn shops?

Today in Blips

Hi there =]

I wanted to share a couple blips of my day with you & show the last piece of the CBG blanket.

A hand embroidered handkerchief I got in a huge bag of thrifted fabric.

Doodle from work.

Progress continues on my zentangle. I'm really enjoying it! Very relaxing.

Tying the loose ends together on the CBG. I know I'm suppose to weave them in, but there are just too many!

So, there you have some blips of Caleisha's day =]  I am remembering how much I love to doodle.  I started carrying a notebook around with me at my last job & I'd doodle my thoughts in it. It helped to relieve the stress of that place... I suppose it'll do the same at my present job.  In the "Buried Alive" picture, I had like 3 months worth of receipts & delta airline itineraries on my desk trying to reconcile my boss' AMEX bills... It's so tedious. le'sigh...

Anyway, here is the last piece of the CBG blanket! I got it done at the mall for $12 O.O  Only 12 dollars?!?!?!  I'm going to embroider EVERYTHING! lol =D

This is going to be stitched onto the back of one of the squares. I'm so in love with how it came out!

Well, I'm off to watch Bones & tie the rest of the ends. Hopefully, I'll be done with this part tonight & be able to sew the patch on tomorrow. Then it'll be ready to pack up & be given at the wedding.  Have a great night :)

Redo: Cassette Tape Case to Mini Briefcase

Hi there! I hope you had a nice Tuesday (I almost wrote Monday... where is my head??)

Anywho, I have a cute little DIY refashion type project to show you :)

Supplies: Scissors, Hot glue gun, fabric, small cassette case or something similar.  Not pictured: iron/ironing board.

But first, a little back story.

A few weeks ago, I picked up this cassette tape case at ThriftMart for $0.99 since I'd been eying all the "fabric covered suitcase" tutorials online.  I figured, it's small enough to be a first try.  Here's the case (I didn't take a picture of the inside because it was pretty grubby).

After cleaning it up with alcohol & giving it a thorough scrub with a brillo pad, I decided that I didn't want to mod podge fabric over it.  Plan B: recover the inside.

I gutted it except for the velvet-ish fabric in the top & added a new piece of cardboard to the bottom to smooth it out.  Now it was time to pick though my HUGE fabric stash for the perfect companion to the little case.

I settled on this one.  It's also thrifted... I think I paid $1 or $2 for like 3 yards of it a while ago. Anyway, I covered the inside with it.

Fabric swatch.

So, after cutting/folding/pressing the fabric, I glue it in place.  As a finishing touch I cut out a couple of the big flowers from the center motif & glued them to the lid.

Finished! Hurray!

Ta-Da! Here is the finished piece!  I think it's lovely.  I also have NO idea what to put in it o.O

But seriously, it feels really good to get that creative time in tonight especially since work was particularly draining today.  Since deciding to remove the specific "Have To's" from this blog, I feel a freshness.  Now it is just day one of this time of renovation, but it's good.

Now, for anyone that may want to do this project, here are the steps.  It's really, really simple.

1. Remove any messed up original lining & thoroughly clean your case.
2. Pick a piece of fabric for your new lining. Cut it to fit the bottom of your case with an additional inch on all sides. (It's fine to eye this. I didn't do any real measurements at all. Sewing teacher be shamed, lol)
3. Fold each of your sides in one inch (right sides together) & press the fold with an iron.
4. Fold each of your ends back the other way 1/2 inch (wrong sides together) & press that fold.
5. Use hot glue to hold the extra bits of fabric in your corners. Now you have a fabric box that can fit in the bottom of your case.
6. Drop the lining box into the case & hot glue around all the sides. 
7. Cut out a design from your fabric scraps & hot glue onto your lid. And wham bam, you're done!

Now you have a cute, recycled, lined case for whatever your little storage needs!  If you've done something like this before, leave a link or a picture. I'd love to see your work.

~Goodnight :)

Almost a Blogger

Good morning.

I've not much crafty to talk about but I have words bubbling up...

When I first started this blog, I had the idea that it was going to be some snazzy crafty smorgasbord of  awesomeness, but in all actuality it's just bland... No salt, no spice... I wanted to write the blog that I have been looking for all over the web. I wanted to make a connection with other girls like me.  You see, I was looking for a blog written by a black girl who likes crocheting & yarn shops... vintage inspired things & thrift stores because sometimes you just need to see a familiar face in the sea of everyone else... but it seems that we are few and far between... or maybe just underrepresented.

My roommate said "why don't you just write it?"  And I thought that was a grand idea, but truth be told- I think I'm pretty much failing.  I set up all these themes & plans. I write little bits and bobs at work, but somehow it still feels inauthentic...

I think I'm going to remove all the guidelines I've created for APT-203 & just create.  No more waiting until Thursday to write about thrifting or only showing my favorite things on Tuesday.

I want it to be fluid... like when I crochet... Letting the medium tell me what it is to become & not forcing it into a preset shape.

I want this blog, this space, to ride on its own melting... like a piece of ice on a hot stove... like a poem.  I think Robert Frost was spot on. This week, I will begin the rebirth of Apartment 203 & hopefully resurrecting the spirit in which this blog began.

Not So Blue Monday #5

Good evening! I hope you had a pleasant day.  Mine was nice.  There were a few moments of struggle this morning, but all in all, it was a truly Not So Blue Monday. :)

Let's see... some things to smile about today.

1. MY CAR WORKS & IS REGISTERED! Watch out world! I'm mobile again! All thanks to my dad who drove 800+ miles to work on it :)  Now I just have to put on my new license plate & get it washed... 6 months of sitting really does a number on a car.  It feels SOO good to have my car up & running again. Just to have the option of saying "I want to go there" & go without planning for a ride or huffing-n-puffing on my bike (poor outta shape me...) is really refreshing.  Big smiles on this one!
   
2. Reading new blogs. I was browsing the sponsors of OneSheepishGirl & found a couple of new blogs to read ^.^ The first one is called Her Library Adventures & after reading a couple posts, I was hooked.  Her style is so girly & cute... I love it! I'm becoming more girly in my day to day clothing choices as well... there's been a serious spike in the floral patterned fabric around here... -chuckle-
   
3. Thrift Therapy.  After I got off work today, I spent about an hour & a half at ThriftMart.  I leisurely walked through the store & picked up some nice looking/ nicely priced pieces.  I managed to snag 2 long sleeve solid tees for 50 cents each & a navy blue tea length skirt (excellent for work).  I got some basic belts (white, black, navy) a few books/magazines & some kitchen shelving. I love how I feel in the thrift store. It's calm & peaceful & I feel the stresses of the day float away.  I'm a thrift-a-holic... Oh well... ;)

So, that's it for today. I didn't mean for this post to be so text heavy but alas Lamar has my phone so photos will be added later. 

Good night & I hope your tomorrow is blessed.

Crafternoon 5

Hi there!

Lately I've been a crocheting machine. I finished the cream/green/brown afghan & started 2 other blankets. One is the "LC Throw" which is going to be shades of green/blue/yellow & the other is a ripple lapghan in random colors. I'm SUPER PROUD of myself for finishing the CGBafghan & now I feel like I can crochet anything, lol. ^.^

Ta-Da!!!

The finished CGBafghan measures about 6.5 feet wide x 7.5 feet long.  Pretty much queen size.

During today's Crafternoon I started working on the new ripple piece. Although, half of the time was dedicated to wrapping loose yarn into neat little balls. Here is the progress picture + a "take a break bowtie."

It's 34 inches wide & so far 5 inches long. Check back for ripple updates :)

Tuesday Favorites #3

This Tuesday has been an up & down roller coaster for me... but here are a few of my favorite aspects of today. Most of these are from a playlist about puppets & such.

This first video really made me smile. Which is something I needed today.

Whenever I get emotional or really sad, I am always drawn to water. I've been aching to get to the beach, but the only "beach" close by is a shell covered lakeside... Be that as it may... I think I'll make the trip so the water can clear my head.

I was absolutely enchanted by this video... that is all.

--EDIT--
I thought that was all I wanted to share... until I heard this... There's something about string instruments. Some strange melancholy that seeps into your veins and curls into a ball between your ribs... I can barely breathe listening to this piece... I want to describe the feeling of this in words but they don't do it justice.  Colors won't even do.  Put your headphones in & close your eyes & take a listen.