She's Crafty!

How something can be at once both a little creepy and a whole lot beautiful is pretty much the nature of ... well... Nature. Especially when it comes to stuff inside of us. But these histology dessert plates are just too beautiful to focus on the icky.

Medical illustrator and artist, Emily Evans, made these gorgeous plates from original slides of various human tissues provided by Michelle Spear, Clinical Anatomist at Cambridge University. The plates were then fired by ceramic artist, Emma Smith.

If the physical sciences aren't really to your liking as dinner decorations, maybe these inkblot placemats will help you figure out what your subconscious is trying to tell you.

I know Christmas is the most common time for making and enjoying gingerbread houses, but there's no rule that says we can't make them year round, right? Like this wonderful version of the magical, homey Weasleys Burrow, crafted by Michelle Jamieson. I don't know about you all, but I have always had a fond spot for the Weasleys and their home has always felt like a place I could easily make myself at home in.

I love it because it has an amazing DIY feel to it. Much like myself, they are on a close budget, they have to make do with things that are not perfect or they make it work somehow. Mrs. Weasley makes her family home knit sweaters for Christmas and they reuse books and clothing, just like me! In my mind that house is kept together with magic, duct tape and love.

If you're looking for something a bit smaller, more portable, but still magical, check out these lovely wands willow-gravity of tumblr made.

And now, for something completely different, bizarre, and sometimes even a teensy bit brutal, check out Brutal Knitting, showcasing the sometimes amazing, and always a bit disturbing knitted projects by Tracy Widdess.

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She's Crafty

So many great crafty things! I just adore this Nyan cat wrap!

Nyan Cat wrap

I love clever decorations. This colorful paper globe light made
from cocktail umbrellas is so cool, I might actually make a couple
of these for our patio!

Really cool cocktail umbrella light

OMG! You HAVE to check out this awesome website with
step-by-step instructions of how to make really cool,
geeky amigurumi figures, like this ATF set!

Amigurumi Aqua Teen Hunger Force!

Ha ha. What a cute way to deal with holey jeans.
I'd be temped to do this with all my pants!

Clever way to "fix" a hole in the knee of your jeans!

More cute crochet patterns! I want to make a bunch of these
little yip yip aliens in different colors!

How to crochet a Yip-Yip Alien.

And then there are the science-y crafts. This mini quilt with embroidery is what one might find in a petri dish. And it's beautiful.

What a cool petri dish mini quilt!

I'm actually going to make some of these! Our coffee table has a small bowl on it, where these would be perfectly displayed.

Crochet dice!

What geeky crafts projects are you working on?

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Secret Project Revealed - Cthulhu Blanket!

Last week, I got it in my head to buy a pretty little bobble for my friend Cat, who hasn't been feeling well lately. I went to etsy and looked up different cute Cthulhu items, when I saw a listing for a Cthulhu quilt. Without meaning to disparage that quilter's efforts, I thought to myself, "I could do something better than that!" So, I decided that I needed to.

Cthulhu blanket!

I pulled out my green fabric and thought about what else I needed. I stopped by Goodwill to look for some kind of fuzzy blanket for the backing. At first, I found a nice red fleece blanket, but then I decided to take a look at the bathrobes, just in case there was something there that would be even better.

What I found was beyond my best wishes! There was a perfect bathrobe: pink, fuzzy, and just the right size.

Fits perfectly! Sorta.

The back panel is big enough!

I don't know what size this robe was, but the back panel alone was big enough for what I had in mind. So I set myself to ripping out the seams and seeing what I could make of it.

See how soft and fuzzy?

Once I'd pulled out the back panel, I laid it out to see what kind of design I could make work.

Mr. Bob, for scale.

I had a lot of fabric to work with, but coming up with the layout still took a bit of drafting. And several paper bags for the pattern.

Homemade pattern.

I decided to turn the robe panel upside down and make the smaller end the bottom of the blanket. Then I taped together several sheets of brown paper and sketched the basic pattern on the paper.

The rough idea.

And don't forget the wings:

It's not Cthulhu without wings.

Cut and ready to go.

Measure twice, cut once, right? Especially when you only have a finite amount of the favorite fabric!

This is why I buy colorful sheets when I find them.

Fortunately, I had a larger piece of green sheet fabric!

Ready to go.

And don't forget the tentacles!

Tentacles!

I cut on section of the tentacles out of the same green as the Cthulhu front, but the back section out of a slightly lighter shade of green.

Wings!

And the fronts of the wings.

Finished wing.

I sewed the wings together, and inserted a panel of bright pink satin on the fronts. I did the first wing the hard way, by cutting out the green center and trying to sew them together. HARD! I did the second wing the easier way, by pinning the pink to the back of the green, sewing them together and THEN cutting out the green center. I intentionally left the green unfinished, so it will fray slightly over time and give the wings a more ragged look.

Finished front panel.

I sewed the tentacles together and turned them right-side-out. I then sewed them to the green Cthulhu front panel. I also sewed a pair of eyes made from some super soft black scrap fabric I had leftover from a Cat Woman costume I made ages ago.

Finished back panel.

I sewed the completed wings directly to the back of the pink panel. I then pinned the wings back, and the tentacles out of the way, and sewed the two big panels together.

And then, voilá! Done!

All done!

Isn't this the coolest thing ever?

Wrapped up pretty.

All wrapped up and ready to go!

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