Vol. 5, No. 163-170, December 28, 2020

You probably noticed, this year, I have been really bad at posting work. The truth is, I wasn't enjoying writing the blogs, so I would put off posting. Therefore I decided that next year, I am only going to post to Instagram and let it do the automatic post to Facebook. That way, I only have to post once. If you want to know about my project, you will have to ask.

Before I "give up", I am going to post all of the projects that I have missed.

5163 - Squash Soup.

I was helping to make squash soup and got to run the immersion blender. When it is held at just the right height, it creates a fun woven star design.

5164 -  Quilted.

In mid-November, my mom, sister and I finally finished the baby quilt that we had started nearly 2 years ago. It was a gift for my niece. It turned out pretty well considering it was out first actual quilt.

5165 - Mixed Media Self-Portrait 12/12/09.

In college, I took a drawing class; one of the assignments was to create a self-portrait. It is labeled as mixed media, although I am not sure what I used; I am guessing chalk, colored pencil, and paint.  After the class, I filed away the project in a tube. As I was going through art supplies recently, I came across the drawing. I unrolled it thinking I would look at it quick and then put it back in storage. Unfortunately, I noticed mold spots on the paper. I decided the best course of action was to photograph it and then dispose of the artwork. 

5166 - Giving Thanks.

Thanksgiving looked a little different this year. Rather than gathering with my dad's family like we normally would, it was only my immediate family in attendance. We still had a full dinner including homemade bread and pies. We arranged this picture showing our "bounty", to share with my dad's siblings as they were all sharing pictures of their own feasts.

5167 - COVID Cardinal.

At school, we are trying to keep our curriculum the same as much as possible, while still following COVID guidelines set out by the state. Sometimes this means changing how we do certain projects and we have found that some of these changes are good and we intend to keep them. One such happy change was the addition of a cardinal to Kindergarten Paper Mache Ornaments. In the past students have been able to choose between a reindeer, a snowman, or a penguin. All three ornaments were cute, but the penguin required two colors of paint and either two brushes or water to wash the brush. I didn't want to deal with the extra setup, so I changed the project. Our school's mascot is a cardinal, so I knew that would be a great winter bird option. I love how they turned out and will be keeping cardinals next year.

5168 - Snow Globe.

The ornament project that I did with my Transitional Kindergarten class last year required a lot of prep work and it wasn't really COVID guideline friendly. Therefore, I wrote a new lesson plan, deciding on paper snow globes. Using Epsom salt "frozen" paint, we iced the background. Next we added finger print characters and decorated with markers. The plan didn't go quite how I had intended, but most of them stilled turned out cute.

5169 - Cake Construction.

It's hard to believe, but ten days ago, one of my favorite littles turned 3! I did lots of research to find the perfect cake. He is in to trucks of all kinds, so I decided to make a construction themed cake. I made a Double Chocolate Banana Cake (he loves bananas) topped with chocolate ganache and crushed Oreos. A bit of powdered peanut butter helped to create the three in the middle. The cake was finished off with some Milk Dud rocks and little toy trucks.

5170 - Quarantine.

Due to close contact, I got to spend some time in quarantine. While it may sound like a paid vacation, it's really not that fun; especially for a teacher. I still had lesson plans to prepare. I decided to use a lesson I had initially done during distance learning last spring; Guided Drawing Cardinals. As the school mascot, I figured a cardinal was something that students could benefit from knowing how to draw. I made two examples showing different backgrounds that could be added.

Vol. 5, No. 014, January 14, 2020

5014 - We Are Family.

Tonight I attended a scarf painting class with my cousin. I decided to use a picture of my drying scarf as the background for my family tree. If I wasn't feeling the drowsy effects of the wine that we drank while working, I would have made a larger family tree that included my cousin. However with heavy eye lids, I opted for only my immediate family. I used a leaf sticker in PicsArt to adorn my tree.

Vol. 4, No. 237, August 25, 2019

4237 - In This Together.

Today ended up being an impromptu family day, minus Philip, however he did get in on the activities via phone multiple times. Jessica was coming over to help Mom make a baby quilt for my niece. She brought 2 large bushel baskets full of peppers and tomatoes, which meant that today became salsa day. We worked together and divided up the tasks. Half of us made salsa and half worked on the quilt. I was mostly of the quilt team, but did get in some stirring and recipe reading for the salsa. At the end of the night we had one quilt top and 40 jars of salsa.

Vol. 4, No. 208, July 27, 2019

4208 - Flower Fields.

Today Becca and I attended a needle felting class at the Dassel Library. At this class we learned the art of 2-D needle felting as we created a field of flowers. I decided to make a field of poppies, and I worked in a little bit of a Starry Night sky.

Vol. 4, No. 131, May 9, 2019

4131 - Pretty In Purple.

Tonight I made a complete pair of Baby Booties. We had decided that Elle’s color was purple, even before she was born, so I decided to knit the booties with purple yarn and finish them off with a lilac ribbon. I used a doll as my foot model as my real-life model was unable to travel to me 11pm. Hopefully I will be able to deliver the booties on Saturday.

Vol. 4, No. 130, May 8, 2019

4130 - Never Give Up.

Tonight I attempted to make booties for my niece. I chose a soft purple yarn and got to work. It was going pretty well, but I had no idea how big to make them. So when it looked like it was long enough I tied it off. When I took it off the loom, I thought it looked kind of small, but I wasn’t sure, maybe it would work. Then I noticed a newborn sized doll sitting across the room, I slipped the finished bootie on the doll’s foot. It didn’t fit, unless I was going for a knitted clog. Unfortunately, I don’t think a clog will stay on a baby’s foot too well. I guess I will be trying again tomorrow.

Vol. 4, No. 119, April 27, 2019

4119 - Birthday Bonanza.

Today my family celebrated a lot of birthdays. First was my Aunt who died in infancy, so I never obviously I never met her. Next is my older brother, Shawn, who turned 32 today and his dog Ziva who turned 2. One might think that 3 birthday’s in one day was enough to celebrate, but someone decided to make it 4; in the early morning hours, my niece was born.

A while ago, I had decided to make a gift for my sister Becca, celebrating the birth of her first born. As I mentioned before my sister and brother-in-law use otters as their spirit animal. This summer I had gotten a small stuffed otter in a McDonald’s Happy Meal. When I found about the baby I decided to knit mini hat for it and give it to Becca to put with the larger otters that she already has.

I went with a multi color yarn, so that I could make the hat before the baby was born. Then I decided to put a Pom-Pom on top using the gender colors we had established, purple for girl and gold for boy. My siblings and I were told that we wouldn’t find out the baby’s gender until we visited, so on my way to the hospital this morning (Dad was driving) I made two Pom-Poms, one gold and one purple. I threaded them both on to the hat so that when I arrived and found out the gender, all I had to do was pull out the wrong one. Turns out I should have just gone with my gut and forgot gold all together, but I couldn’t be that certain.

Vol. 4, No. 006, January 6, 2019

4006 - Rubbish Rummage.

Last night I was going through my closet, switching my hangers from plastic to velvet. As I did this, I pulled out a couple things that I no longer wanted. One of these was a old stretched out night shirt, that was nearly see-through; I stuck the shirt in a bag to donate. When I woke up this morning and saw today’s prompt, I immediately knew what I was going to do. I cut the night shirt into strips, tying them together to form a ball of string, and then started knitting a scarf. Oldest Miller had asked for a purple scarf, so when I am finished, I will give it to her.

Vol. 3, No. 303, October 30, 2018

3303 - Crossing The Finish Line.

DAY 30 Make a trophy to celebrate your efforts during this month!

My trophy is the pumpkin that I made at a needle felting class earlier this month. While my trophy may not look like a traditional trophy, it represents all of the new things I tried this month, including needle felting, paint pouring, light drawing, large scale coffee painting, and miniature painting. I produced some projects that are or will soon be trash, but I also produced some of my all time favorite projects.

Vol. 3, No. 182, July 1, 2018

3182 - Bittersweet Memories.

It was a bittersweet day as I spent the majority of my day moving the last of my things out of my old house. When I got home, I wanted a quick and easy project, so I pulled out some fabric squares and fabric markers. I decided that a good comforter is a handmade quilt, so I decided to design a mini quilt. Momma Miller and Miller Friend were siting on the couch with me, so I invited them to complete some squares as well. When we were finished creating, I laid out the squares in the quilt design. If I had a sewing machine I would have actually sewn them together.

Vol. 3, No. 85, March 26, 2018

3085 -  Silky Rose.

I finished knitting the scarf for the Littlest Miller the other day, and just needed to add the silky trim. I decided to encoporate a rose into the trim. It was all hand sewn, mostly because I don’t own a sewing machine. This meant it was slightly time consuming, but I love how it turned out, so it was worth the time.

Vol. 3, No. 81, March 22, 2018

3081 - Knit Together.

A few years ago, I knit myself a scarf and matching headband. I have misplaced the headband, but continue to wear the scarf. This winter, the Littlest Miller has gotten quite attached to my scarf and every time she sees me she asks me to make her one. Since I have half of a Spring Break this week, I decided it was a good time to start knitting. I began on Tuesday, but I started it to wide, so I ended up unraveling the 8 or so inches I had knitted and starting again. The unraveling took place late last night, so I was pretty much starting fresh this morning. As you can see I got pretty  far, but I still have a ways to go. My goal it to have it finished, with a white satin trim by time I go back to school on Monday.

Vol. 2, No. 119, April 29, 2017

2119 - 29 - Rip and Repair.

Day 29 Take something you have made during this sprint, rip it up (literally or metaphorically!) and create something different with the pieces.

I looked at the pictures of all my projects from the past month, about half of them I didn't have anymore because I left them on location where they were made, and the other half are things I want to keep. So I had to get a little more creative.

I rescued a dress scrap from the garbage. It was leftover from my dress to apron project. I "ripped" the fabric into strips using a scissors and wove the strips together to make a coaster. It could be better if I took the time to sew the cut side shut, but it holds together on its own, so I will probably leave it as is.

Vol. 2, No. 45, February 14, 2017

2045 - A view of your city. The Heart of MN.

Continuing to use twine as part of my #64millionartists challenge, I did a project that has been on my art bucket list for a while: MN String Art. I found a scrap of wood at the theater, got a friend to cut off the bad edge and sand it. Then I spray painted it gold. I found and printed a map of Minnesota, taped it to the prepared board and started pounding in nails around the boarder and in a heart around Darwin. Then, I gave the nails a quick coat of gold.

When it was dry, I started winding twine. I quickly discovered that the twine was too thick and would not work for this project, so I adapted. I used string for the woven base, and the added a twine boarder and a twine Celtic heart knot.

10.5" x 12"