Fatty Lumpkin the African Violet Pony

Fatty Lumpkin is a crochet pattern I ran across today (along with most of Ravelry's members) and I just HAD to start making one. These are the yarns I've chosen:

Classic Elite Magnolia in merino silk, in Eggplant, #5456
KnitPicks Galileo in merino bamboo, in Luminous (teal) #4936
Cascade 220 Superwash in... Ruby Red I think :)

I'm really happy with both of my test motifs, I haven't really decided which color schema I'll go with!

I hope they are worked tight enough. Great pattern so far!

Alternative Aperture

I have started another project over at Alternative Aperture lately. A lot has been happening lately and I will blog more when I get it sorted out. Good things are afoot!

Creativity Series: When you just want instructions...

I am wanting to make a purse today, something simple, no printing required, rotary cut and then embellish, sew outer and lining, and put it together voila!

No dice on a pattern.

I guess I'll design one, but it got me thinking... why can I rarely find patterns I like? I think that's one of the big reasons I design. Too bad pattern writing is sometimes a bore, or I'd make patterns for everything I make. I'll probably do a tutorial on my wild and wacky purse today, though. We shall see how it turns out! I'm thinking to just alter my basic square bottom tote into a purse shape, and done. Now I have to decide on size! And imagery for applique! And so many more options are open but I really, truly, just wanted to follow a pattern and be happy with the result. Such is life, as an artist. Sometimes I wish I had another artist me to pick things out of my brain and write patterns for me to follow. But, it doesn't work that way unfortunately.

Maybe my requirements aren't so simple after all...

I'm thinking soon will be an artist/crafter art vs craft postie, I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I think I'm an artful crafter. Or maybe a crafty artist. Who knows. And why does it have to have a name anyway?

Alphabet Game

If you know how etsy works, you know that one of the search features is the "common searches" list if you start typing something in the search bar. It is a list that pops down, starting a few rows from the top of that list are a list of relevant searches starting with those letters. The first word in the list is the popular search.

Well. I thought of a fun game tonight! The alphabet game, with the search titles.

Here's a good place to record it! Let me know if you like the concept, and you'll see it again, right here!

A: Adventure time

B: Baby

C: Iphone 4 Case

D: Doctor Who

E: Engagement Ring

F: Father’s Day, Fabric

G: bridesmaid Gift

H: Harry Potter

I: iPhone 4 Case

J: Jewelry

K: Knuckle Ring

L: Leggings

M: monogram

N: Necklace

O: One Direction

P: Harry Potter

Q: Quilt

R: ring

S: Steampunk

T: Game of Thrones

U: Unicorn

V: Vans

W: Wedding

X: 3ds xl

Y: Yoga

Z: Zelda

The number of big name brands included in this list is interesting. As is "Knuckle Ring." 

Questions, comments?

Whitney

OH So Exciting

I'm doing exciting things lately. Pretty damn exciting to me anyway! My first and probably shorter to mention excitement is listing new things in my PomegranateAndPuce shop on Etsy:

New are the quiltie kits (OH so much fun!) and the cuffs (OH so fashionable!) and also my How to Make a Wholecloth and Raw Edge Applique Art Quilt (OH so informative!).

Next, after alllll that work over the last few days, I wrote a business plan! A thing I'm only slightly ashamed to say I've never written before now. I am super (guess what!) EXCITED about the things Pomegranate and Puce has in store for you! (Hint, Hint: It might involve some web design!)

OK, I'm going to sign off and say goodbye before you're over-exposured to exclamation points!

Spacefem's Big Etsy Contest and Pomegranate and Puce's New Adventure

I've been playing around and getting on twitter more lately (Follow me @myvioleteyes), and have found a cool thing! Each day, Spacefem's Big Etsy Contest pulls newish items/newish shops to feature, in a "who's hotter" type fashion. Two items pop up. Click your fave, and that's it! Wash, rinse, repeat!

I think its an interesting story-she says she started the site to feature items that have "fallen under the great Etsy radar." I've sold on Etsy for many years, or at least had an account at all times for 7 (yikes!) years, and have managed to consistently feel like I'm falling under the radar. 

Do you feel the same way? 

Then SIGN UP! 

Its free-and we all like free promotion...

Now, let's face that falling under the radar problem together. A group of cohesive products seem to help that. Sooooo Guess What! I'm going to be putting together a line of QUILTING products. Stay tuned for a fun new future for Pomegranate and Puce!

The first item in the line up, is a tutorial with my secrets to How to Make a Wholecloth Art Quilt. 

How to Make a Wholecloth Art Quilt

Now, this one pictured is not wholecloth but its such a pretty picture, I just had to use it-and you've got to start your fiber art journey somewhere. Wholecloth is a great place to start. In fact, only one technique not mentioned in the tutorial is used to create this quiltie, raw edge applique!

My next tutorial will cover my method for raw edge applique in detail!

Creativity Series: Why write?

I ran across an interesting quote in a podcast today, that has really made me think. First, the quote, then, my thoughts!

"There is no one-to-one [correlation] to 

the things you make and who 'you' are." 

Fizzle

I define myself by what I make, and I need to rethink this process. As a creative "maker" type person, it is easy to use what you produce as the essence of who you perceive yourself to be, but in reality, I am who I am regardless of what I make

If someone were to see a piece or collection of my work, they would be no closer to knowing "me" than had they not. This is something, however, that I do want to change-and that change will begin with my writing. So, in order to write more authentically, I need to take a moment to catalogue who I am, my values and belief systems, and how this impacts what I write. Almost more importantly, I need to explore why I write what I write.

Creativity is a subject near and dear to my heart. Creative is the essence of who I am. Helping others reach the point where they can feel creatively fulfilled is one of my passions. This is why I am writing the Creativity Series to begin with. I feel like others can see my journeys into the idea of creativity, and what it means to me, and start to explore their own creative selves.