Welcome to my crafty blog! I'm Sam, a college student, engineer, seamstress, crafter, & entrepreneur. Enjoy perusing photos of my sewing and craft-related adventures. I hope my blog brings inspiration and happiness to your day! |
Theodore Roosevelt summed it up best with this quote:
“whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘certainly i can!’ then get busy and find out how to do it.”
 Dunkleosteus: a big, old fish. I think, barring anything incredibly complex, it’s a great philosophy. So when one of my photography friends said, “hey sam, can you make a plush dunkleosteus?” I said, “sure!”
(well, first i said “what is that?!” and he told me it was a giant dinosaur fish thing.)
At first, I was worried. Those teeth, all the layers of bone, all the details and hard edges… what if I couldn’t do it? But it was one of those moments where, as soon as I stopped thinking about it, I could see it perfectly in my head. It’s a plush, right? I can do plush. At that point I gave myself a pep talk, rushed to Joann’s, snagged a ton of gray fleece, and got to work.
This was one of the most complex plush I’ve ever made: he’s got side flippers, a top fin, little tail fins. With all the “bone”/exoskeleton layers, the back of his body is three layers of fleece. And then there are those teeth! Man, those were tricky. Symmetry is always a challenge.
He took longer than expected, because there was a lot of pattern drafting to be done. But I think he was worth the wait. Wanna see?
I just love his goofy smile, and the fleece, as always, is just so soft. I also finally broke into the ultimate safety eye stash that I’ve been hoarding for a few years now – it sure is handy to have some of every safety eye lying around!
I just love doing custom plush. It’s always a scary challenge, but they usually come out alright, and that just feels so good! Do you like it?
 There’s a song that I love, “The New Year” by Death Cab for Cutie, that is obviously very fitting for today. Or at least, one would think so. It begins with some musical clangs that mimic bells, and then the first line:
so this is the new year… (clang clang)
… and i don’t feel any different.
Last year, I wholeheartedly agreed with this sentiment. I wrote it in my little moleskine of little thoughts as a sort of mantra, and although my new year’s post was optimistic and goal-focused, I felt 100% the same. I didn’t feel any different.
It was partly due to stubbornness. Sometimes, I think the whole concept of a new year is silly. We’re not supposed to wake up and feel different. But now I realize – we need it. We need this day, this chance for reflection, rebirth, and rejuvenation.
Today I’m looking back on myself a year ago – and I’m way different. I’ve done a heck of a lot of new things in one year, I’ve learned a ton, and I’ve generally matured as an individual. So if you’d care to join me, I’m going to go on a short little retrospective journey.
In February, I got to take a wonderful mini-trip to Rome to visit one of my very best friends, Katie. It was, of course, amazing to visit the Vatican, eat gelato, and stare at that blue, blue sky. But it was also a great opportunity for Katie and I to catch up and go back to being the friends we were in high school, the friends who saw each other daily. Rome trip? Awesome. Rome trip + reconnecting with an old friend? Perfect.
 In May, I learned the basics of piloting a small aircraft. It was difficult, and a little bit scary to be behind the wheel, but now I’m itching to get back up there. This was a pretty cool addition to the list of things I’ve done in my life.
 Speaking of cool things to add to my life list, in June I bought a glass kiln. I’m still researching, learning, and collecting supplies, but in December I fired my first glass project. Photos will come soon! This is a big one on the 2012 list: I hope to get a lot more firings done in the coming year.
 Fourth of July weekend was spent in Roanoke, and my mama and I had wonderful girl time visiting with my cousins and aunt. We went thrifting, drove around the mountains, made good food and ate good ice cream. Another good bonding trip for the year.
 In mid-July, my family spent the week following my mom’s birthday in Ireland. It was probably the best vacation we’ve ever had – great food, great beer, lots of snacks (or snooks, as we called them) and lots of laughs together. We drove through the emerald hills and stepped into the frigid ocean, gazing toward our distant home. I also saw HP 7 Part 2 in Dublin, and my life was forever changed. I’ll always be a Harry Potter book nerd, but that movie was unbelievable.
In September, Brad and I made the chalk masterpiece of all chalk masterpieces at the Cleveland Museum of Art Chalk Festival. I will forever be unreasonably proud of this piece of temporary art.
 Molly, another of my best friends from high school, got married over Labor Day weekend. I was so glad that Brad and I could make it to her wedding, it was so pretty and so much fun. She’s the first of my close friends to get married, but certainly not the last… a lot of my friends have been getting engaged lately. I am happy for all of them, but I, personally, would like a few more years of unmarried life. I’m only 22!
 Which brings to to my birthday. In October, I turned 22. For me, 22 feels like a major turning point. Age 21 is considered to be “adulthood”… but 22 means you’ve made it in. I’m trying to take this ’22 feeling’ and make it a focus on maturity and responsibility. Hopefully this feeling will guide me toward the adult I want to become.
 In October, I got to represent my school at a conference called thinkChicago, which was a 2-day event focused on innovation in entrepreneurship and technology. Definitely something I’m interested in! We attended panels with Google, Groupon, and the mayor; and I got to tour the Threadless warehouse! I also had my first taste of real Chicago-style deep dish… and now just looking at that photo makes me feel forlorn and very, very hungry. I also crossed a visit to the iconic Vogue Fabrics off my list- it wasn’t monumental, but it was certainly my kind of fabric store.
I shipped out 14 narwhals for the holiday season – less than half of last year’s tally, but I was grateful because I had lots more schoolwork than last year. I also made a couple awesome custom projects, and I’ll be showing those to you very soon!
2011, a year of planes, was a year of great change for me, and I’m sure I owe a great deal of that change to those planes.
How many planes, you ask? Let’s count the trips…
5 trips from home to Cleveland (3 visits, 1 wedding, 1 fall break)
1 trip to Cincinnati (skiing with Brad!)
1 trip to Italy
1 trip co-piloting the small plane
1 trip to Ireland (+1 for connection through London)
1 trip to Chicago
Planes: 10 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 2 = 22 flights, 22 planes.
22 planes for my 22nd year. I’m okay with that.
why, hello christmas,
you’ve surprised me this year. you
do love surprises.
Classes ended a week later than usual this year, so I didn’t end up back home until late on the 18th. Cleveland gave me a gorgeous snowy send-off, but Virginia’s warm and flipping between bright sun and heavy rain, like Christmas in April.
I’ve sewn a handful of cool things lately, and I can’t wait to show them to you! I had a great custom request this year, so once Christmas is over I will put up the pictures. Nothing’s better for my creative spirit than someone showing a ridiculous picture and asking, “can you make this?”
I hope you are all having a cozy and wonderful Christmas Eve! It’s the best night of the year. Merry Christmas!
I’ve been shipping out lots of boxes that look like this!
I’ve had this tape since just after last Christmas, and I finally get to use it. Hurray!
I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving filled with food, family, and blessings! I’ve got lots to be thankful for, especially my family, friends, and the wonderful chance to forget about classes for two whole days!
And just a heads-up: to save myself some sewing stress, I’m encouraging early Narwhal orders with a sale! All narwhals ordered before December 1 are $3 off!
We Clevelanders were spoiled at the beginning of the month with a blissfully sunny and almost-warm November. We had seven sunny days in a row… seven! Hear that, Los Angeles? We’re catching up!
I readily soaked it up, propelled by the voice in the back of my head whispering, it won’t last. My camera and I saved it all, especially my favorite part: the orange leaves against the brilliant blue sky. I could spend all day staring up at those trees, their leaves artistically splayed against the perfect backdrop. I willingly accepted the stares from passersby as I stopped to look at the trees in their splendor, because they were worth it. Those trees.
Walking early to class with my camera makes everything better. Even with mountains of classwork to move, and no bulldozer, just a small shovel to pick at it scoop by scoop… the sky, and my camera, and the trees, save me.
Fall is my favorite season for a multitude of reasons. Not only do the leaves change, providing a beautiful (and delightfully crunchy) walk to class, but I get to wear flannel, and scarves, and my glittens (as i’ve recently heard these called). I’ve also finally found the perfect hot chocolate: Stephen’s Dark Hot Chocolate , available in super-bulk at Amazon. It sounds like a lot, really. But for a college student walking back and forth to class in Cleveland… those six canisters might not even last me through the winter. It’s amazing stuff.
Another plus? Pie. Pretty soon I’ll be feverishly baking pies on a daily basis, and my suitemates won’t be able to stop me.
 Fall has so many positive attributes that, when combined, just barely overcome the major downside: winter’s next.
Thank goodness I’ve still got five canisters of hot chocolate left.
One last joyful thing: I have received one of the ultimate honors of the internet, in my opinion: the chance to serve as someone else’s inspiration. Joshua, a 12-year-old boy with a really great blog, carved a narwhal jack-o-lantern after being inspired by my narwhal plush. My week has been made. You should definitely stop by his blog – it’s got wonderful posts about his pets and his sisters, with better writing than a good handful of my engineering classmates.
I hope you’re all having a chilly but cheery November, with even more hot chocolate and pie than me – and lots fewer lab reports and quizzes on complex math! Procrastination time is now over.
 For my last Halloween weekend as a college student, I couldn’t resist the chance to dress up! I wore my new winter hat as part of my Amelia Earhart costume, and Brad dressed as the 11th (and most recent) Doctor in Doctor Who, complete with bright red fez created by yours truly. In case you haven’t seen the show, here’s a really short clip: “fezzes are cool“. I also learned to tie a bow-tie this weekend, what a useful skill! Brad got lots of compliments, since his outfit was spot-on, and awesome, and we go to a rather nerdy school.
Brad and I carved pumpkins, as you can see below: I picked a warty pumpkin, but I think that meant it was harder in general, because it took some hefty sawing to carve! But it was worth it, because I now have the world’s happiest pumpkin. I wish I could’ve found some vampire fangs; I love what Alice did to make adorable fanged gourds (and the post is a must-read… she’s just so excited!).
Brad and Hannah had a contest to see who could most quickly eat a donut off a string… and I’m going to be in trouble for putting that picture online ;) The three of us then painted baby gourds, and got overly excited about their googley eyes.
It was a low-key, little-kid-ish Halloween – just the way it should be, and just the way I like it. A nice transition out of birthday week… and into November? When did this happen?
I hope you all had a lovely Halloween!
I always love taking pictures. But there are some days where I can see things better with my camera than with my eyes.
Lines, shapes, textures, colors.
And then the produce salesman shouts, “take a picture!” and points to his papayas. I comply.
Another friendly merchant leaps into my picture as I click the shutter. I am entertained.
A camera full of pictures and a sack full of fruits and vegetables: that’s a productive day in my book.
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