I have gone on a crafty binge the last couple of weeks, which has been nice. And I’ve even completed two projects, instead of getting partially through then setting them aside indefinitely, which has been really nice!

After receiving a wonderful drawing by Halcyon, I had to come up with something really good to send him in return. I finally decided to make him a messenger bag with another one of his drawings appliquéd onto the flap.

I found the pink strapping first, which was the perfect shade of pink, then I had to find fabric to go with it. I spent a few hours going through my stash of fabrics looking for material to use, but I didn’t find any I liked for this project, so I ended up buying more. I found a pretty cool black on black polka-dotted fabric for the exterior, then I had the hardest time finding a pink that matched the strap for the interior that wasn’t a floral or girly print. I visited three stores (ok, one was closed for renovation) before I found the Barbie Pink (the actual color name) chintz I used. I found the star-printed fabric and thought it would go nicely with the pink to add a bit of interest to the interior.

For the bag pattern, I used Simplicity #4391, View B (turquoise messenger bag in the bottom left square). I omitted the strap that runs down the center of the flap and instead of doing the velcro closure (gah!), I added an adjustable strap and buckle. Overall, the pattern is good and the bag was fairly easy to construct, but it turned out to be deeper than I liked (front to back). Next time I make one of these, I’ll take an inch or two off the sides and bottom. It was also a pain in the ass to get the heavy interfacing into place.

To make the Guardian Demon, I printed out Halcyon’s drawing at the size I wanted. (In hindsight, I really should have made him about an inch or two smaller.) I cut out the demon, traced him onto pale pink fleece that I’d back with iron-on stabilizer, and cut that out. I marked and traced the interior lines on the fleece, then I used size 5 cotton embroidery floss to do the interior lines with a chain stitch. I cut the horns from stiffened white felt and glued them to the back of the head. It wasn’t until I finished the bag that I realized I’d put the horns on backwards. *sigh* I actually backed the entire demon with the stiffened white felt after realizing the black of the bag was affecting the color of the demon.

I attached the demon to the flap with fabric glue, then I couched a double-line of the embroidery floss around the outside of the Demon (minus the horns) using a loose whip stitch. Since the demon appliqué wound up a bit thick, I ran about four more strands of the floss through the whip stitches to build up the border. Since the original drawing shows the horns with a slightly thinner outline, I used ordinary black sewing thread to couch a couple of strands of the floss. I also used more floss to weave through my chain stitching to fill out and thicken those lines too.

While there are a few little things that I wish I’d done differently, I am quite proud of the final result. More importantly, Halcyon loves the bag!

This morning Dale told me that Zoë was outside playing with a dead mouse, tossing it into the air, rolling around on it, et cetera. We went out to get rid of it, armed with a shovel and garbage bag. After shooing Zoë into her doghouse, I was relieved to see that it was intact (no blood or guts visible, all limbs attached), but it wasn’t a mouse as Dale had said, it was a rat. I think it was a juvenile, because it wasn’t very large (smaller than the pet rats my sister has had), but it was definitely bigger than a mouse. Its body was about the length of my palm.

Dale tried to scoop it up with the shovel but he ended up pushing it into some tall weeds alongside the foundation of the house. When he parted the weeds, we discovered the rat had dropped down into a small hole and I could barely see it. I ended up having to put the garbage bag over my hand so I could reach down and grab the rat. I didn’t want to risk Dale chopping it into bits trying to dig it out with the shovel.

Holy cow, was that disgusting!! I’m usually not squeamish about critters. Bugs, lizards, snakes, spiders, etc. don’t bother me. Domestic rodents such as my sister’s pet mice and rats don’t bother me. But wild rodents turn me into an utter squealing wuss for some reason. I’ve handled garter snakes and scooped up spiders to deposit them safely outdoors, but the few times I’ve encountered a wild mouse or rat, I’ve found myself shrieking and climbing onto the nearest elevated object. I’m terribly embarrased about that, because I know a field mouse is unlikely to go on the attack if it sees me. But, this poor rat was dead, so I was able to gingerly dispose of it without getting sick.

We don’t know how it died, if Zoë killed it or if a neighborhood cat left it in our yard. At least we got rid of it before Zo&eml; ate it. Crap, she’s going to need another bath now.

That was the subject line of an email Dale just received. We’re not sure what prompted it, unless it was envy. The same person had previously written Dale a message about what “good taste” he had in picking his nickname.

Normally, an email like this would just be laughed at, then forgotten, but we decided to reply with some corrections and a suggestion on how to improve his hate mail.

From: GibZilla

Date: May 7, 2006 2:19 PM

Subject: Re: YOU SUCK

To: Gibson Xxxxxxx

Dear Mr. Xxxxxxx,

I regret to inform you that your semi-legible hate mail has failed to pass basic English. In order for your future attempts to succeed, I have corrected your mistakes. (Corrections should appear in red.)

“I hate your guts, you piece of crap!!!!  I wish you would fall off the face of the earth and die!!!!!  Morons like you don’t deserve to live.“

On 4/25/06, <——@popularfreemailaccount.com> wrote:

I HATE UR GUTS U PIECE OF CRAP!!!! I WISH YOU FELL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND DIED!!!!! MORONS LIKE YOU DONT DESERVE TO LIVE

I hope that you will learn from these mistakes so that future hate mail will properly cause the intended distress.

Sincerly,
GibZilla

Yesterday I came across two different sites that let you spell out words or names using unconventional ‘letters.’

Butterfly wings via Sanved Search. You can purchase posters of three different Butterfly Alphabets, three Nature Alphabets, as well as several other themes at Butterfly Alphabet, Inc.. I’m thinking of getting one of the alphabet posters for Olivia. [via parent hacks]

Biscuit alphabet via bokstavskex. [via Boing Boing]