ThatDamnCat designs

Handpainted platter and brandy-pipe (Christmas 2011)

2012-02-03T16:30:00.001+01:00

Time for The continuing of the christmas-gift-listing.

For my mother, I wanted to do something special. In fact, the only reason it became a christmas gift is because I didn't have time to finish it before traveling there to visit in the summer.
The shining parts are actually painted with silver-paint.

The text is in swedish, saying; "Remember to Laugh (It could have been worse)".

Next up is something I made for Mr. Kilt. I found this funny looking porcelain-pipe hidden away on a dusty shelf, and after discussing wildly for about half an hour with the class we came to the conclusion that it must be a brandy/whiskey/akvevit-pipe. In short; you pour an alcoholic beverage into the tiny bowl and sip it through the long thingy, haha.

Oku is one of Mr.Kilt's many names and definitely the easiest to write. The skull? It's kind of my thing when it comes to painting, not to mention that alcohol is poison. (Sweet, sweet poison...)

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Handpainted coffee-mugs (christmas 2011)

2012-02-02T16:37:00.000+01:00

It's with slight sadness I realize that I've been procrastinating instead of updating my blog. But enough with the waiting, it's my birthday today and I have some time to kill before going out. So why not breathing some life into this dusty little place?
MAY THE CHRISTMAS-GIFT LISTING COMMENCE!

For my brother, his wife, my sister, her husband and my mothers husband I hand painted some mugs:

My brother is a carpenter, so I thought it would fit.

Johanna is my brothers wife.

Greta is my sister, she got the hat and bow skull. Mikael is her husband.

Torvald is my mothers husband, and the closest thing I've ever had to a father. His mug looks different from the others, because he loves flowers. He spends all his work hours underground, so I thought he'd like a reminder of the beautiful garden he's grown at home.

I figured this would be a good start to my 2011 christmas-gift-listing. I did make more porcelain gifts, but they're for another entry.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Sssshhh...!

2011-12-09T14:37:00.001+01:00

(I've been naughty, don't tell anyone. I've been putting up my type of graffiti around town.)

Don't Run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Skull plate set

2011-12-08T14:34:00.000+01:00

I have been up to my neck in christmas-gift crafting, of which none can show up here until after christmas, so bear with me.

I do, however, have this porcelain set I painted for MAS, a center for people with physical and psychological difficulties. They had a christmas market to raise some money and I can proudly tell you that my set was sold for 400:- NOK (52 euro / 69 USD) .

Aren't they cute?

Don't run with Scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Shameless narcissism

2011-11-05T16:16:00.000+01:00

Have you noticed? *hint hint* Look up at your browsers address field.
I have my own domain now, BOOYAA!
I also have my own, professional email.
And a fan page on Facebook. (Like it like you like it, people! )

I feel so... Grown up.

Don't runt with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Knotted bracelets.

2011-10-31T11:45:00.000+01:00

I have a bunch of different coloured rope, some string and a whole lot of beads lying around. Lately I've been trying to make things from what i already have lying around, and I have a lot of things lying around... So, among other stuff, I've been making some bracelets.

Brown rope, red rope and two coloured buddhistic praying beads. Not really a buddhist, but I like how they're thinking. And the beads are really pretty. One for me and one for Mr. Kilt.

Spiral knots with beads made out of bone and skull designs for closing decor.

I've been getting back to my creating like there's no tomorrow and I love it! If I'm not doing one thing, I'm doing another. Finally inspiration has struck again.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Circus-crutches

2011-10-30T19:18:00.003+01:00

So, yeah, Murphy struck again.
In july (over three months ago, I know) the kids asked me to jump on the trampoline with them. So I did. And then I heard a *Click* and three seconds later I could barely support myself on my left knee.
Of course I didn't let that stop me.

Now fast forward three months and my knee still hurt like a bitch. Being the I-don't-need-a-doctor-I'm-sure-it's-nothing-serious kind of person that I am, I still hadn't had it checked out. Instead I'd been walking on it a lot, climbing mountains, trees and crawled on all fours under a bridge - over ten meters above ground. (Link will take you to my geocaching-blog where there's pictures of said event. Totally worth it, btw).

But yeah, my knee won the fight and I dragged myself to the docs. They pulled, poked and did a simple x-ray. Found nothing and said it was probably nothing cause it wasn't swollen. Of course it wasn't swollen Now, you should have seen it three months ago!
They sent me away to do an MR and I can now say that those MR-machines scare the fucking bejeezus out of me.

But at least they found out what was wrong (ligament partly torn off, but will heal on it's own).
So now I'm forced to use crutches and let the damn thing rest until it's healed.

I hate crutches, they're ugly, boring and always in the way. But doctor's orders are still orders and I decided to do the best out of the situation:
I pimped out my crutches with black and pink duct-tape.
Now I don't mind them as much anymore and just looking at them make me feel a whole lot better.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Anchor Beach Bag

2011-10-30T18:00:00.000+01:00

This bag was an experiment.
I wanted to try out free hand sewing on my machine (turns out I'm really bad at it, haha) and I wanted to make a beach bag with a design I actually liked.
When I, a little over a year ago, was gifted a whole lot of fabric, I got some off-green/off-white stripy fabric and my first thought was "BEACH BAG!"

(I hate our yellowish bedroom walls, ugh...)

The pocket, lining and anchor was made out of denim, I used some sweeeet soft rope I found in an alley-store downtown and eyelets for the fastening, because... well, eyelets frikkin' rocks.

The handles was a simply attached my tying a knot on the inside.

(The bag became a gift for Mr. Kilt. We also found out if the Dog fits in the bag. He did, obviously.)

Now I swear I made this thing at least a day or so before they showed up in all the stores, honestly. Hopefully. Maybe....

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Hippie Bag!

2011-10-29T18:00:00.004+02:00

While geocaching in Sweden me and Mr. Kilt got lost in the forest, rain pouring down like there was no tomorrow and trees, rocks and moss as far as we could see. It took us almost three hours to find our way back to civilization and by that time we were soaking wet and so was our things and bags.

My old faithful bag that's been serving me well for a good six years of abuse started smelling absolutely foul and it looked like it wanted to commit seppuku. So naturally, I threw it in the washing machine.

I couldn't go out without a bag, so I pulled out some fabric I had gotten on a sale in Sweden and occupied my mothers kitchen floor to create a new one.

I present to you; The Hippie bag - Pink Edition!

(Bags are frikkin' tricky to take good pictures of, how do you other awesome bloggers do it?! And yeah, hippie dog in the corner making sure I wasn't trying to sneak out without him) )

It's basically a typical bottomless bag with a round gathered bottom, one outside pocket with a button for closure and one open inside pocket. (No pics of the inside, sorry! )

I love how I cant fit absolutely EVERYTHING in the thing, but I'm not the biggest fan of having to almost Climb Inside the damn thing to find anything again after putting it in, haha.

Don't runt with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Patches bag!

2011-10-29T00:09:00.000+02:00

So I've been crafting a whole lot lately, but seeing how most of the things I've created are christmas gifts, I haven't been able to publish them here.
My oh my - This blog will be bombed with posts come post-christmas.
But (!) my dear readers, I have managed to rumble through my closet and find a few unpublished creations from throughout the year. So starting with the Patches Bag, my blog will once again awaken from it's slumber.

(Taking pretty photos in a chaotic little apartment is always a challenge. Here also pictured my little hippie-dog who was convinced I was trying to sneak out without him.)

This was my second project hen learning how to work my overlock machine, a design I've had in my sketchbooks for a few years, to be honest.

It's a complete re-use project, made from cut out squares from old t-shirts. Mr. Kilt and I covered the floor finding the right pieces to make it look good, but in hindsight it became a bit smaller than I wanted it to be.

I also put a "double-patch" on the outside and on the inside for small invisible pockets. (Looks closely at the front and you see where my cardholder is poking out, on purpose just for you, of course, haha)

Of course, the whole thing being made of old pieces of jersey it stretched out a bit when I put my things inside, so I ended up shortening the strap with a knot.

All in all I love it.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Mr. Kilt's new Penholder

2011-08-27T16:05:00.001+02:00

I'm incredibly proud over my awesome Mr. Kilt who started school this week. He's studying to become a Stage and Light Technician (I know, sounds totally hardcore, right?). As he was packing his bag for school he realized he didn't have anywhere to put all the pens and markers he has to drag around, so with a sweet innocent look on his face he asked if I could make one.
Sure thing, I said. It will be my first test-subject for my new ovelock.

I let him pick out the fabrics and after i found some elastic I was put to work. The result became the epic of awesomeness, of course:

(See the uneven bottom? Yeah, that's me getting to know my new machine)

As I can never resist a chance to add a little quirk to an otherwise simple project, I gave the edges an inside-out raggedy look and put a key (who many years ago lost it's lock) to work as a weight for the closing.
Mr. Kilt loves it. I love him. The machine loves me. It's justa whole lotta love here today.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

My new baby♥

2011-08-27T15:53:00.000+02:00

Here's the reason why this blog has been quiet for a while, I've been in a bit of a sewing-rut. I've been dreaming of an overlock for two years now and with the amount of tax money I got back this year I was finally going to afford one, but then stuff happened and I didn't afford one anymore... But then MORE stuff happened and I once again had the chance to get one, and yesterday I did. *dancing of joy*
Let me introduce you to my new baby:

I named her Pebbles. Because I can. ♥ She can do all sorts of awesome stuff. I've always loved the handmade-rough look of things and with an overlock I can finally make some dream designs of mine come true!
A mission from Mr. Kilt comes first though, a perfect project for getting used to the machine, which I will show you in a few hours.

Don't run with Scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Crafting with Kids: Barbie"house"

2011-08-27T15:39:00.001+02:00

Okey, so here's the thing I promised to show you... err... A month ago (I have good reasons I promise!). The Barbie House:

As I was digging through my mother's attic I came a across an old, tattered box of barbies. The lid was flat, the box was barely holding the weight of it's contents. Oh, yeah, it was boring and blue. I don't do boring, neither does the girls.
So with some glue, tape, gift-wrapping paper, pens and stickers the girls and I gave the barbies a new home. A really fancy one, too, with paintings on the wall and a roof in all the colors of the rainbow.

Yes, all except four of these were mine, unexpected, huh?

So with a new home (A bit crowded, but just think of it as a summer cabin, haha ) and new friends all the dolls was finally out of the dark attic and got their hair brushed by girls who looked like they won the lottery.

I'd say that's a pretty good destiny for old toys and a tattered old box.

Don't run with Scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Crafting with Kids - Aquarium

2011-08-05T14:03:00.000+02:00

I recently spent two weeks in Sweden, visiting family and such, you know how it is. This here is three of my perfectly normal, healthy nieces and one nephew. I know, you can totally see we're related, right?

See, one thing I love about being around kids is that I get to do crafts that would look more than a little strange if I did them at home on my own. Like a cardboard aquarium, for example. Or a barbie house (I'll get to that in another post), which made grandma run out of glue. This of course being the reason why everything in the aquarium is put together with tape.

I was cleaning out my mothers attic, looking through the last of my things and deciding what I was taking with me back home to Norway and what was going to be tossed. Oh, the memories... It was raining outside and with three hyper kids who were more than a little upset about not being allowed to be on the trampoline, something needed to be done fast!

So I found An old PS-box, some yarn, some tape, paper, pens, saran wrap (for the "glass" front) and scissors and parked the kids butts on the floor to make an aquarium with me. Something I hadn't done since first grade in school about 16 years ago.

(Oh, what do you know, me in a white shirt, no make-up and hair in desperate need of being dyed again. How charming...)

After explaining to the youngest how a fish that is the size of an A4 is going to have a hard time fitting into the aquarium, but how my magical scissor made it small enough to fit in with the others it was time to put it all together.

Very original fishies, best aquarium on the street, I'm sure. I mean, how many of you have a shark, a starfish, a Poofy-fish and a flying-fish (who is afraid of heights) in the same tank, eh?

Don't breath water.
Love,
~Katt

Cutesy baby Bow

2011-07-01T14:00:00.000+02:00

Leah Jane, the adorable baby who owns more ThatDamnCat and ThatDamnKitten things than I do myself.
She needed a bow, I mean, every baby girl needs a bow at some point, right? Exactly. So I made her one.

She's been in England for 18 days to visit her grandparents and she's coming back home today! I can't wait, I miss her and her mommy so much!

Don't run with Scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Sew Cool and Game Over Mugs

2011-06-24T12:47:00.000+02:00

Remember how I said I kind of went all out when I finally got the green light to do my own thing in class? Well, these are the things I made myself, to myself, by myself.

Game over, baby.

I have two main interests and hobbies, that go above all others. One of them is gaming. To me it's more of a lifestyle than a hobby, I remember the first time I held a controller and when I got a NES for christmas at the age of eight. It was the start of a love for pixels that have never faded through the years.

Sew Cool

My second hobby, interest and lifestyle, as I am sure is no surprises to you regular readers, haha. Can you believe that three years ago I fixed holes in my jeans with duct tape? I'm not kidding you, I could barely thread a needle.

But things change, people change and sometimes it's for the better.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

another quick re-vamp.

2011-06-23T14:42:00.000+02:00

I'm in the middle of trying to organize this giant chaotic clutter-box called My Computer. Right now it looks like I will be finished sometimes within tonight and ten years from now (provided I don't cheat and chuck the whole thing out the window beforehand).

this is what I have open as I am writing this. This is just the start. But this was Not what I was going to talk about. You see, while doing this I find pictures of project that has disappeared in this chaotic clutter and never made it up on this blog. This is one of them:

Maybe it's the horridly crappy photos that made me forget about posting this, but here it is now. It's my basic cardholder design, but with an added zippered pocket on the outside (which is what makes the thing look so uneven on the sides on the left pic). Even if it doesn't show the pocket "pokes out" to make it extra roomy for coins, pet rocks or whatevers.

I'm sure I will find more, and when I do, I'll put it up, but until then, bear with me.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Personalized mugs.

2011-06-22T19:48:00.001+02:00

So....
It appears I haven't been updating again. It turns out I actually have a life. Who knew, right?!
Anyways, as I am in the middle of creating my first poppet (I am terrified of dolls, so this project will take a while....) I remembered my poor blog and decided to throw another project up;
Behold the NIECE AND NEPHEW CUPS!

I have six, yes, SIX, nieces and nephews. In fact, I've been an aunt since I was ten years old (that's how awesome I am), and there is more to come.... But more on that later.
My painting teacher told me I was working too fast and needed to start a project that didn't leave me sitting for hours on end wondering "Now what?" Thus the creation of this:

None of them look exactly the same as they are all completely hand painted. Why the last one has an octopus, you ask? Well, I felt like making one and the soon-to-be cup-owner Stella, being youngest and all, seemed like the best bet to like it. The octopus, that is.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Porcelain painting

2011-06-04T22:09:00.000+02:00

So, I have once again ventured out and tried a new type of crafting. This time; porcelain painting. It's me and a bunch of old ladies, meeting every thursday and just... paint.
And by old I mean that I am the youngest by at least 20 years, so they're not old per se, just oldeeeeer. But they're really cool ladies, so I don't mind at all.

Since I was not allowed to just throw myself into a random huge project I knew nothing about (which, you should know by now, is totally my style) they gave me a square plate and told me to learn the basics on it.
It took me two classes, the result being this:

I didn't put my heart into it, so barely any shading and plenty of visible pencil-lines, but hey, I learned the basics, which was the point, yes?
They let me do what I wanted after that and oh boy... I have.

Don't run with pencils.
Love,
~Katt

Panda Hoodie

2011-05-22T18:00:00.021+02:00

Just a quick Hello in between helping a friend move and cleaning the apartment (Yeah, this saturday is totally party...) and showing you my second creation in animal hoodies.
Remember the Cat-hoodie? Here's the Panda- version:

Strangely enough, I used the same base-pattern here as I did on the Harry Potter-cloak, but instead of the arms becoming a little too long, they became a little short. Oddities, indeed....
Anyways, I offered to fix it for free, but she said she loved it and usually walked with sleeves rolled up anyway.
Hey, whatever floats your boat, I guess. Haha.

Don't run with Scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Geocaching & TreasureBags

2011-05-21T18:00:00.001+02:00

How many of you have heard of Geocaching? Are any of you active hunters? I would love to know. You see, I've become a little bit of a fanatic, even though I've only known about it for a few weeks.

(I know, my paint skillz rock, right? haha)

What fascinatedme the most when I started was how many there are, hidden in places you've passed a million times, without a clue.

I think I love it because of the feel of one giant world-wide treasure hunt, a reminder that being a grown-up doesn't have to be another word for ~~Boring~~.
Well that and I love collecting small and random trinkets. So for me, this is perfect.
And I've lost weight doing it, woo!

After convincing Mrs. T and Mr. Kilt that they had to join me on my never-ending quest to hunt for treasures I decided to make us all Geocaching-bags to hold all our GC-needs (Basically a GPS and lots of random trinkets).
First, One for T:

Red being her favourite color and a quick embroidery on the back, with a plastic "window" in the front to easier find the things inside made her happy with the gift.
Then one for me and Mr. Kilt:

We had to make due without embroidered names, since my machine decided to be in a bad mood, but it still turned out pretty cool.

With only 6 left to go before I find 100 caches, I'll leave you with this for today.

Don't run with Scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Mei Tai Babycarrier

2011-05-20T18:00:00.009+02:00

So, this year has definitely been all about learning to make new things. Hey, what can I say? People ask me to make something, I say yes and figure out how to along the way. Best kind of learning, if you ask me.

Now have you guys heard of Mei Tai's? Really, they're all the rage and so on, and so on...
Short version: A very comfortable, carrying-friendly babyholder thingy-ma-bob.
It was my dear mrs T who asked for one and this is what i came up with.

Of course I had to make sure it could hold a baby, but with no baby around Logan had to make due. A little squiggly at first, but after realizing he wouldn't fall he got comfortable very fast and let me carry him around.

My tying-technique was completely improvised, but at least it worked - And we got a cute picture out of it, haha.

Don't Run with Scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Harry Potter Cloak

2011-05-19T18:11:00.000+02:00

Very soon the last Harry Potter movie comes out and I'm far from the only fan. Are you as excited at I am?

Anyways, a while back I got an order from a father wanting to surprise his daughter (a fellow HP-fan) with a cloak to match the rest of the outfit she already had picked out for the premiere.
And who am I to say no to a challenge like that?

This is the first time I ever made a cloak, or jacket, or anything that has an inside fabric lining. But what better way to learn than throw yourself right into the challenge?
With all the measurements ready i got to cuttin' and markin' and sewin', In fact, I got so into it that I made it all in one go, 12 hours non-stop, every hour making me more proud and excited over what was coming to be right in front of me.
Nothing went wrong, Nothing. For me, that's a first.
Of course, I later found out the arms were a little long, but hey, rather long than too short, right? It's not a flaw, it's an extra.

When all was put together I only needed two things:

1. A Gryffindor patch.
(Ebay is your friend, remember that, people!)

2. A hook to close the coat with.
Of all the things I don't throw away, a simple frikkin' hook was nowhere to be seen. So I had to run into town. Now I had my dog with me, and I couldn't leave him alone outside, so with Logan under my arm I run into the hobby-store, stressed out of my mind, rambling "I'M SO SORRY FOR BRINGING THE DOG BUT I CAN'T LEAVE HIM OUTSIDE AND I REALLY NEED THIS ONE LITTLE THING I'LL BE SUPER-QUICK I PROMISE PLEEEAAASSSEEE DON'T THROW ME OUT!"

Subtle, right? I know.

Either way, I got the hook, ran home, sewed it on and met with the buyer a few hours later. I frikkin' rock.

Oh, and guess what? The girl loved it. A job well done. ♥

Don't Run with Scissors.

Love,

~Katt

17th of may celebration

2011-05-18T13:01:00.001+02:00

Hello my dear blog, I sure have been neglecting you lately and I apologize.
The real world got in the way, but I'm back now, I promise.

Yesterday was a happy day in Norway, where everyone dresses up, eats a lot of nommies and happily waving flags around. The 17th of May; Norway's national day.
We have a tradition of celebrating at my dear friend T's house, with barbeques, boardgames and lots of laughs.

Logan needed to match the day, so right before running to the bus I whipped together a Doggie Scarf out of some red, blue and white scraps. For closing I used some eyelets and metal thingy-ma-bobs I had lying around.

My pretty and proud little sweetie♥

my own look has been slightly updated since last time as well. my hair is now a summery Purple, I have a new tattoo and thanks to a new hobby I've started losing weight. This year definitely looks to be a good one.

So here's mine wishing you a great summer, promising new updates and a never-ending stream of craftiness to come.

Don't run with Scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Amigurumi training (And cute dog)

2011-02-27T19:52:00.000+01:00

Tadaa! I did my very first amigurumi this week.
And my second one...
It turns out I'm a lot better at this crocheting thing than I've ever been at knitting, hah.

Of course I'm not really the person to untangle things if I discover I've done them wrong, I just look the other way and start on the next piece. This is how I found out it takes me exactly four tries to make a decent enough doggy-foot. Of course that didn't stop me from putting the weird ones on, I don't discriminate.

I got the patterns from this swedish amigurumi-book that my nephew gave me for christmas. My goal is to make that crazy-cute dragon and maybe someday figure out how to make my own patterns.

This Amigurumi-thing really wasn't as hard as I thought.

It turns out I'm not the only one that likes these wonky little things in my family. In fact, Logan seemed to have decided that I made him a new best friend. I doubt I had much to say about it.

Like I said, soooo cute! (Gawd, I'm such a girl....)

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Another iPhone holder...

2011-02-20T21:52:00.000+01:00

Happy sunday, again.

I made another iPhone holder today, this time it has a loop in the back where you can attach a band with velcro (I love velcro, it's awesome) and strap around your arm, or leg, or head or wherever you prefer to have your phone.

This one's great for running. It has fleece on the inside that holds the phone stuck and a band up top just for extra safety, without touching the the lock-button or cover where you plug in your headphones.

Isn't he cute, Mr. Kilt? It's always a joy to force him to pose with my creations.
Too bad he refuses to wear a ballerina skirt I made.
(I mean, he wears a kilt anyway, so why not?)

Wow, my pictures was a bit of a fail this time, but whatever, I'm sick (yes AGAIN! If you have seen my immune system, please contact me) so I'm allowed.

In other news.... I'm trying to figure out this whole amigurumi-thing, but it turns out I'm a complete instruction-retard when it comes to crocheting as well. Crap...

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Hoodie for Logan

2011-02-13T13:28:00.000+01:00

I am once again dog-sitting the adorable Logan and managed to perfectly time it with a sudden ice-cold wind and snow storm that is causing craziness outside my window.
But if a dog needs to go, he needs to go, so I decided to made him a fleece-hoodie to make it a little bit more durable.

Have you ever tried taking pictures of a dog that isn't a big fan of sitting still? Or standing still, or lying still... You catch my drift.

It's a challenge, I'll give you that.

This is the best i could do, I promise. On the photo to the right he's actually wrapped into Mr. Kilts jacket to warm up a bit after a long walk in the snow, Only clear shot I got of him wearing the hood as well.
I kind of failed to count in his ears, so the hood is definitely... snug(And warm!).

I also realized why I fell in love with this dog the first time I saw him; He looks like the dragon in "The Never Ending Story" which was my favourite movie as a kid!

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

"Holy crap it's Sunday!" machine cover

2011-02-06T14:31:00.000+01:00

Soo....
You didn't think I was going to forget my weekly crafting just because I'm in Sweden with none of my regular supplies, did you? Of course not, you know better.
So here's my "Holy crap it's sunday and I haven't made anything yet this week!" - chaotic crafting:

My mothers lovely machine which has faithfully served everyone in my family for years, has never asked for anything in return. Sadly, it has never occurred to us to show it how grateful we actually are. Until now.

It was odd really, how perfectly aligned this morning was. I wake up to realize that not only is it sunday, but it's also the last day of the week (I am crazy insightful in the morning) and I have not yet made anything. Three seconds later my mom says with frustration "I will NEVER fit into these Stupid Jeans!" and throws them my way. I look at the machine, hidden on the floor in a corner of the room, realizing how ugly the old plastic cover thing really is and how someone has to do something. Of course, by someone I mean me.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Second of the second

2011-02-02T22:48:00.000+01:00

...Happy birthday to meeee!!!

Today I turn the wicked awesome 23's, not so wicked by it's number, but the fact that it is, in fact MY birthday and I got to celebrate it with great friends and a fantabulous Mr. Kilt. Woooo!

I happen to be lurking around Stockholm, Sweden at the moment and met an old classmate of mine who... Well, he prints things.

Yes, it does indeed say ThatDamnCat. Yes, there is a cat on it. Yes, it is pure awesomeness!
... And no, my piercing is not crooked, the smirk just makes it look that way.

Seriously people, check my friend out on facebook; "Teefromsthlm".
I can't describe how utterly happy I am with this print!

Going to bed to pass out now, A day of Utter Awesomeness do take an Epic amount of energy.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Baby-quilt

2011-01-28T16:47:00.000+01:00

Yes, my dear followers, finally I have gotten my butt in gear and taken a photo of the finished baby-quilt project. Oh, how you must have longed for the finished result, haha.
But wait no more, for here it is! The amazing, the weird, the squirrel-with-a-cheeseslicer'y.....
Baby Quilt!:

(Click on picture to see it bigger)

My embroidery machine went temporarily evil and made me change my plans from a full "Leah Jane" to just Leah, but hey, could have been worse.

And the back of the fabric is fuzzy and OH SO SO-O-O-O-OFT, I had real issues when it came to stop cuddling it and give it away to it's proper owner.

On a more personal note; I'm in Sweden with a cold. Annoying, I know. I really have no immune-system what so ever. But as I'm kicking fever's BUTT I'm also here to celebrate mom's birthday (I bought her a gift, how very uncrafty of me), my sisters wedding and in a few days (2/2, in case you want to know) Mah verah own B-Day celebration. Woo!

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Good-to-Go Cardholders

2011-01-22T19:59:00.001+01:00

A long time ago I made an entry of a cardholder I made for myself. Now I've spent today making more of them, in new designs:

See the flowery one with the tag and pocket on the outside? Yeah, that one was a mistake, but I figured I could show you I have that fabric design as well, although the pockets will be on the inside:

Yeah, the all pink one with only a plastic pocket is the flower one, in case your ability to think logically is temporarily turned off.

So! Find anyone you like? Send me an email at katt@thatdamncatdesigns.com and tell me which one you want and I'll calculate price with shipping to your destination.

Oh, and for people in Stockholm, Sweden: Jag ska till Sthlm på besök mellan den 25e januari och 7e februari, så om du e intresserad men vill slippa betala porto så kanske vi kan mötas på stan istället.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Mario Mushroom Coasters

2011-01-15T15:33:00.000+01:00

I told you I'd be able to make something before the week ended, haha.

Introducing: Coasters of awesomeness!

After realizing that I haven't done any cross-stitching since kindergarten I suddenly got the urge to try it out once more. What better way to start than with the classic Mario Mushrooms? Hell, I even got Mr. Kilt to try it out, haha.

Otherwise my fever seem to be slowly going down and I start feeling human again. Mr. Kilt is taking great care of me and I'm so lucky I have him. ♥

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Giveaway winner!

2011-01-14T18:20:00.001+01:00

Thanks to you and the amazing random.org we now have a winner for my very first giveaway. So, drumroll please....

...*drumroll*...

The winner is Claire!

Thank you all for your amazing comments, which turned out to come in very handy when I ended up with the Flu of Dooooooooom and desperately needed some cheering up. ♥
And so you won't worry your pretty little heads, there WILL be a weekly craft (Would be just my luck to fail a new years resolution on the second week of the year, though, hah) but due to unforeseen circumstances (Read: vomiting, fever-hallucinations and general dehydration) I have not been able to sit up long enough to whip something up until now. With other words; I'm working on it!

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

One Yard Wonders + GIVEAWAY! (CLOSED!)

2011-01-06T14:53:00.002+01:00

I've decided that 2011 is going to be a crafting-year. My bookmarks-folder is overflowing with "I have to make this!.. Eventually", my apartment is overflowing with fabrics and sewing books are piling up in the bookshelf.
So my new years resolution is to make something at least once a week. Sure, I could aim for more, but let's keep it real. more than one thing a week can be a happy surprise instead, haha.

So, I started with the "FOLKLORE BAG" from One Yard Wonders and made sure to pick out a fabric that's not really my style, but still pretty wicked:

(Click on image to view it bigger)

I apologize for the not-totally-perfect inside image, I haven't ironed it yet, but i wanted to show the little inside pocket and how roomy it is.

So, what to do with this thing that isn't quite my style but oh'-so-cute?
*drumroll* THATDAMNCAT'S VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

For a chance to win this hippie-like bag, all you have to do is comment on this entry and answer this question:
What do you like most about this blog?
I'm aweome enough to ship it worldwide, just make sure you add your email adress so I can send you a message asking for your address if you win.
You will have until friday the 14th of january to submit your answer.
Oh! If you spread the news of this giveaway, I will love you forever, just saying.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Ipad-case

2011-01-01T13:35:00.000+01:00

So I tried this embroidery thing again. It still terrifies me every time, haha.
I got myself and iPad for christmas and a basic rubber holder for it. Just one problem, though. It's fracking cold in this country in the winter and I was terrified my screen will end up cracking because of it.
I decided to make an iPad-case with fleece on the inside.

It's not really a perfect fit and I still haven't decided on the closing, but hey, not too bad for my first try, eh?

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Diaper bag

2010-12-31T20:43:00.002+01:00

So... A lot of things have happened.
I became a mommy to two new ratsies, Hannelore and Abigail, a few days ago. They keep me pretty busy at the moment. I forgot how frustrating it can be to house-train rats, but hey, I love them so it's worth it.
My best friend gave birth to a daughter as well, an adorable Leah Jane who just makes your heart melt.
Oh and I've made some stuff too, but keep forgetting to take pictures of it, so this is me trying to make up for it.

Ergo: The Diaper Bag:

...And yes, that is me in my super hot pajama-pants. I'm sick on new years eve, so I'm perfectly allowed to look like a scarecrow.
Have i told you I ordered new tags for my "kid" related creations? ThatDamnCat is also ThatDamnKitten now, heh.
Anyways, the mother is a big fan of pins and stuff, so I left the flap blank for her to decorate however she wants. Yes, I'm an awesome friend.

(Remember you can look at all the pictures bigger by pressing them)

So these are the side pockets, I know, I´m crazy inventive. One simple slide for whatever and one with a flap to close with, some zig-zagged fabric for extra room and velcro. Isn't velcro just the best? I love velcro.

Back and front. I stole some hooks from an old Oakley laptop-bag that Mr. Kilt has had since the dawn of time and no longer use. Totally hardcore re-use, with other words.
In the back I made a zipper pocket, just because I could, and you can never have too many pockets. The zipper doesn't look as blue as in the picture, though. And no, the flap isn't another color either, I just have an evil camera that's out to get me.

So it's huge and super-duper roomy, with checkered pockets under the flap that "closes" with elastic on top and the inside has a bottle-holder elastic band, a random pocket and a laptop-or-whatever-you-want-to-put-there-pocket.
The inside fabric is actually water-proof, which gives it a bit of a shine.
The soon-to-be owner specifically wanted a bag in black and hot pink, so I didn't have much to say about it, but I'm pretty damn happy with how it turned out.

Oh yeah, I'm totally writing this while having a rat on top of my head.

Happy new years people, I hope you get a great start on 2011. Me and Mr Kilt will follow our tradition of calling his old friends in the states, about 8 hours before their new year sets in.

Don't run with scissors.
~Katt

Some christmas gifts

2010-12-25T15:08:00.000+01:00

As some of you might now, I've been an aunt since I was 10 years old and my brother got his first son. Now, 12 years later, I have a total of six nieces and nephews which I love more than anything.
This year I decided to make their gifts myself.

For two of the girls I knitted scarves (I have never finished any knitting projects before, only started over and over, so YAY me!). One one end I cross-stitched the first letter in their Names (Amanda and Felicia) while on the other end, though you can't see more than the buttons with your puny human eyes, I added some secret pockets. Everything becomes more awesome with secret pockets, you know.

For the youngest girl I made a winter beanie out of fleece, with earflaps and some flower details. This is one of those things I so badly wish I had a kid close by who could wear it for the picture, but since I don't this will have to do, hopefully you get the picture.

I made two more fleece hats for the boys, without earflaps, but they were the last gifts made in the last second before i had to send the package to make sure it arrived in time, so I forgot to take a photo. But! I did make a duplicate for Mr. Kilt who thought they looked awesome, so when I get home I'll see if I get some photos of that one, then you can exchange the face with that of two awesome kids.

Lastly I made the Christmas Hat for the oldest nephew, something he wished for last year when he saw the one I made for Mr. Kilt.

Don't run with your mouth full of tangerines.

~Katt

Needle cushion bracelet

2010-12-16T15:28:00.003+01:00

Most of the time I'm the one that doesn't sleep at night, but occasionally mr. Kilt join me in my adventures of an insomniac, this was one of those nights.
As I was getting to get some sewing work done he decided to sew something for me( my guess is that he's sick of accidentally trying to kiss me while I have needles in my mouth, haha) and created a pin cushion bracelet.
I'd like to add that he has no sewing experience what so ever, in fact, he's never even sat by a machine. All things considered he did an awesome job. After I showed him where the ON-button is... How to start... How to stop... And how to cut the thread.
Really, I'm impressed.

Oh yeah, I'm totally trying to do this post on my iPad. Tricky indeed.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Craftin' quickie

2010-12-03T20:52:00.001+01:00

Spent the evening being christmas crafty with my darling neighbour. We found these cheapo christmas craftin' packs in the store and bought a few boxes. Everything you needed was included! Sewing needles, glue, felting needles, wooden figures and all the fabric pieces neccesary. I ended up making these adorable grey santas.

What do you think about my christmas "tree" by the way?
We have absolutely no space left in our apartment for an actual tree, so my Aloe Vera plant had to substitute.
I'm serious people, this is the best I could do.

After making the santas I had some fluff left over and decided to try needle felting for the very first time. (It's a rat. Just pretend you saw this right away and we'll all stay friends):

Considering the fact that I've Never tried needle felting before and I had absolutely no clue what I was doing... Let's just say it could have turned out a lot worse.

Time for me to put some happy-band aids on the fingers attacked by the sharp needle. Feel free to drop a comment or two, it get so lonely over here in the country where it gets dark before 4pm.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Idiot-proof Santa Hat tutorial.

2010-12-03T00:48:00.002+01:00

Last year I made a santa hat for Mr. Kilt, today I decided to make another one. I also decided that it could be my very first tutorial.
Now I'm what I call a tutorial-retard, unless something is spelled out and showed veeery clearly, I don't get it. It's my kryptonite. So despite the long tutorial, it's really quick to make (An hour tops, even for the biggest N00b). I'm just very thorough...
So here it is folks, a must have for christmas; The Santa Hat - The Idiot-Proof Edition.
Remember: All the pictures can be clicked to be seen a lot bigger!

The stuff you need.
These are the things I use to make a santa hat, easy peasy.
Measuring tape(to measure stuff), scissor (to cut stuff), needles (to pin stuff together), notebook with pen (to "remember" the measurements), magic fabric pen (Or anything else that doesn't leave permanent marks on the fabric)), a piece of string (to tie around the pen, it'll make sense, I promise) and last but not least the fabrics. I decided on red fleece and white fluff this year, but you can use basically whatever.

The Red Stuff.

You start with deciding your "length" of the hat, I made mine 41 cm, which is a good basic size. Then you draw up a straight line of that length from the corner, along the edge of your fabric, but Not Right At The Edge,you need a seam allowance, so draw up the line about 0.5 -1.0 cm from the edge, if you're a worry-person, I suggest the 1 cm choice, since it leaves more room for mistakes. (I'm really good at those myself).
Do you have a nice pretty line now? Good.
Tie the string around your pen, hold the other end of the string with your thumb at the corner, right where your line starts. Have the pen standing straight at the end of the line and make sure the string is tight between them.
Now, Draw a Bow with the pen and keep holding the other end stuck to the corner. Draw all the way to the edge of the fabric. Now we have drawn up a pretty corner cone. Woo.
Now you need to measure the circumference of the soon-to-be-hatowner's head

Since i trust you to have the head measurement, you now use your measuring tape to measure up that length along the curved line, starting at the Straight Edge-line. When you reach the correct length, you mark it and draw a straight line from that mark to the corner.

The seam allowance.

Now that we have it drawn up all nice, we need to mark the seam-allowance. Or.. Well, you don't Have to, if you like to go crazy with scissors while wearing a blindfold, there's nothing I can do to stop you. But let's say you want to get it right the first time around and is totally into seam-allowances.
Draw small lines 1 cm outside of your lines, all the way around (This is where Lilla Grå came by to ask if I wanted any help).

When your pretty artistic line-skillz look like this, it's time to start cutting it out. Make sure you cut along the dotted lines and not the main ones, it would suck if you had to start all over now, wouldn't it?

The Fluffy stuff.

Now on to the brim, the fluff, the cozy part which will caress your forehead. Yes, that part.
First, you decided how wide you want it, I wanted mine to be 3 cm, then I gave myself an extra 1 cm for seam allowance, measured it up on the end of the fabric and folded it 4 cm from the edge (3+1. Logic is awesome). Then I measured up the length (Hint: It's the same as your head circumference), added 2 cm (one for each end) and with the fabric folded I cut right above the folded edge (see picture) and down where I had marked the width end.

The Putting Together.
Now we have the fluffy hem and the red cone thingy, so it's time to needle them together. To make it extra obvious I've written on the pictures itself in case you get confused by my weird way of explaining. See the black line markings ? That's where you're going to sew, to attach the red and fluffy together. You do this by laying the Red down with the right side up, then you put the Fluff on top of it, wrong side up. Needle the edges together, the marking lines you made earlier on the Red will help you know where to sew.
By doing this the stitches won't show on the front, because when you fold the Fluff after sewing it it covers the stitches (see right picture).

The Snack Break.

This is a great time to have a quick snack, while considering world peace or which five things you would bring to a deserted Island.

I decided that a picture of my fantastic lunch was in order, while forgetting that Lilla Grå was loose in the livingroom. The same moment I pressed the trigger a sneaky little rat ran as fast as her legs could carry her to steal a bit of cheese. I didn't even realize I had caught it on picture until I went through them all for the tutorial, so I figured it definitely deserved some blog space.

Now we need to stitch the fluff to the inside.

This is super easy, seeing how no one will see that side, you don't have to make the edge pretty at all. Just put the edge so it just covers the stitch marks from the front and sew along it. Using thread the same colour as your fluff is the absolute best now, since when this stitch is done you will definitely have stitched stuck some fluff. Carefully pull the "hairs" that are stuck and re-poof the fluff, making it basically impossible for anyone to even see any stitches.

Closing the hat.

It's finally time to close it and turn it into an actual hat! Find your "wrong side" (remember the white fluff was "quick stitched" on the wrong side) line your ends together and sew along your lines, finishing the point of "The Cone".

Almost done now!

The Poofy End.

No santa-hat is complete without the poofy tip, right? This you can make in so many ways. You can make it with white yarn, make a cotton ball or, like me, fold some fluffy scraps into a ball, hand-sew some stitches to keep it that way and then add a few more to attach it to the tip of the hat.

And with this done, my friends....

... We are finally Done.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Comments would make me super-duper-mega-happy as well!

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Mourning

2010-11-30T13:05:00.004+01:00

Do you see the white rat with the grey stripe on my header?
The one sitting on top of my pile of books? Yes, her. That's Annabelle.
Yesterday I held her in my arms and stroked her soft fur as she fell asleep for the very last time.
I'm sad. I miss her.

I don't know what else to say. Today is not a crafting day...

Winterskirt, or "Omg, I made something for myself!"

2010-11-18T21:44:00.000+01:00

I bought myself a new pair of shoes the other day, since you can never have too many shoes. They're warm and knee-high and with a little bit of heel without making me feel like bambi when I walk.
But since they're knee-high they go better with skirts, which made me realize something. Mr. Kilt owns more skirts (sorry, kilts) than I do. How very un-girlie of me!
So I decided to make one, just because I could.

And yeah, I'm a redhead now.

Isn't it pretty? the fabric is thick and soft, which made me have to stitch each fold on the machine to make it stay folded all the way down. It took a lot of thread. And yeah, as always i screwed something up, this time the rugged edges at the bottom, since I didn't realize that sewing the hem BEFORE I sew the folds would have been smart. But hey, at least I found out I have an overlock-ish type of stitch on my magic machine, haha.

I'm always weak for pretty details, which made me use hooks, eyelets and a ribbon to close with instead of a simple boring zipper. I must admit that after spending hours on this thing it was slightly terrifying making holes for the eyelets, thankfully Murphy was on vacation.

There you go, I finally sewed something for myself, what do you think?

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Sneak peak

2010-11-06T18:15:00.001+01:00

Here's me giving you a sneak-peak of my work-in-progress:

A sort of, kind of sketch of what will (hopefully, if all goes well) soon become a quilt for a little baby girl named Leah Jane. ♥
Ignore the birdcage, the squirrel (which is indeed holding a cheese-slicer) and random details, that's just me procrastinating while trying to figure out what fabrics I'll end up using.

Don't run with butterknives.
Love,
~Katt

Black knight costume

2010-11-06T18:02:00.001+01:00

One of the halloween-costumes I took on myself to create this year was for a dear friend of mine. I'll give you a second to guess what he went as....
*One*
That's right, my clever ones, he went as Monty Python's Black Knight and looked awesome!
I sewed the black "shirt", added a shoulder-cover for the arm and a hood to wear underneath the helmet.
BUT (!) the painting and helmet was made by none other than my dear, basically-blind friend and neighbour. For a girl that doesn't see much she sure knows what she's doing and her fantastic art skillz keep blowing me away. ♥
You can see more of her art on her DeviantArt-site if you click -HERE-

Oh yeah, if you want to see any of my pictures bigger, just click on them and it will open up to a 1000px minimum.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Duct tape picture frame.

2010-10-14T18:00:00.001+02:00

I bought a new shelf the other day. They come in these neat IKEA-packages that when all is drilled into a wall covers my floor in plastic, paper instructions and one long, rectangular cardboard plate.

Now, I absolutely hate throwing things away, thinking that I someday will find use for it. But then there are moments like this one, where I know right away what I want to make and just have to do it now now Now!
So what if I don't have any spray paint or watercolors? I can use duct tape.
What does it matter if I can't find my glue anywhere? I can use duct tape.
So I did. with these two things I created the picture frame that's now up on my wall for everyone to see, holding four of my favourite memories caught on camera.

If you are like me, who sometimes find themselves feeling alone in a crowd, you will understand how much these pictures mean to me. On a bad day, all I have to do is look up and I will be reminded that I am Not alone. I have friends whom I love and who loves me back, unconditionally.
True friends are difficult to find, but when you do... It's worth all the time in the world.

Don't run away.
Love,
~Katt

Nautical flags

2010-10-14T15:00:00.001+02:00

Me and Mr. Kilt celebrated our 3 year anniversary on the 30th of september. Both suffering from stubborn colds; runny nose, sore throats, unpleasant coughing - You know how it is.
Somehow, despite all this, we managed to have a perfect day together.

I had great troubles figuring out what to get Mr. Kilt for said anniversary, but one day I stumbled into someone's blog and found the perfect thing to make for him.
Mr. Kilt has a sailor family and he loves everything that has to do with boats or the sea. (See, this is where he drew the short straw with me. I get sea sick just looking at a boat).
I googled a picture of all the nautical flags and started sewing. This was the result:

May I introduce: Mr. Kilt's name written in nautical flags (Yes, this means you can figure out his name with a simple google search). He absolutely loved it and it quickly ended up on the wall above his desk.

I got a gift too, of course. An absolutely perfect gift which made me squeal, yes actually SQUEAL (I'm such a girl) of joy. He definitely reached out to my inner nerd and gave me my very own subject Delta (It's okey if you have no idea what I'm talking about, but IF you were a gamer and happened to play Bioshock 2, you should be squealing just like me about now).

At first I wasn't planning to post a picture, but it's just too awesome to leave out, so ignore my bad-skin-day and look at the most awesome gift ever:

I'm going to try and make my own doll soon, baseballs aren't the easiest thing to get a hold of here in Norway, but thankfully Mr. Kilt used to live in the states and have some lying around, haha.

Don't run with corkscrews.

Love,

~Katt

I actually won something!

2010-10-14T01:00:00.000+02:00

I entered a giveaway, just like million times before, but this time I actually won!
I never win anything, so of course I felt the need to share this with you, not gloating whatsoever, but sharing. You know, like friends do.

I received the package from PatchyApple yesterday and found these pretty goodies:

Metal zippers, needles, elastic, bias tape, thread and a magic fabric marker. It couldn't have arrived at a better time, I needed some thing fun to happen and surprises are the best kid of fun!

Don't run into walls.
Love,
~Katt

Fabric bomb

2010-10-13T17:59:00.001+02:00

Omg, I'm alive!
I know I've been kind of... very... absent lately and I apologize. But hey, when you see this you will understand why I've been slightly busy.
You see, my dear friend and neighbour has a mother who decided she had too many fabrics lying around. Me, being the fantastically generous person I am, offered to take them off her hands. Suddenly I had five boxes taking up my livingroom and a boyfriend that shook his head while I was dancing around in a state of utter happiness.

Have I told you that my apartment isn't very... big? Well, let's just say I have amazing organizing skills and you can once again see the floor in my livingroom. (In case Mr. Kilt's mother is reading this and wondering if I kicked her son out to make room, which I didn't. I'm just Awesome.)

I started with the thought of taking pictures of my favourite finds, but got so caught up in all the prettiness that after these two I forgot about the camera completely.

My only problem now is that I have so many plans and ideas for these fabrics that I have no idea where to start.
Craftymind overload.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Another form of creativity

2010-10-04T16:37:00.001+02:00

So... life's been a bit of a bitch lately, to be honest. Great things have happened, sucky things have happened and I just never seem to stop being sick. Soon going on three months, I think.
But this is not what my blog is about.

Creativity and creation come in many different forms, here it's mostly been about sewing. This time will be slightly different.
I was visited by a friend from my past this weekend. He needed vacation and I needed to smile. He came bearing gifts. A tattoo-kit to be exact. And before I knew it I was sitting there tattooing one of my oldest friends.

Considering I had never held a tattoo-machine before in my life until the moment I was about to permanently mark him I was scared shitless. Odd how complete fear can make your shaking hands still create amazingly straight lines, eh?

Don't run with needles.
Love,
~Katt

Stella's new dress

2010-09-07T00:11:00.002+02:00

Yeah, I felt really bad for not having a before-picture of the tank, so I went on an epic picture hunt. (Google is my friend) and as always - The Interwebs never fail to deliver. Sort of, at least.

This is the same designed tank I used to make the baby dress, but the one I used didn't have stripes and was more pink, which you'll see.

Anyways, I separated the bands around the sleeves and neckline and then, with the monkey as the center, measured how I'd cut it all out.
Remember I didn't have any pattern and guestimate measurements, just quickly throwing a measuring tape around a slightly annoyed little girl.

Well, enough blabber. As promised, the result:

I didn't close the bands on top, so it can be tied to fit however as Stella grows, maybe even be used as a top instead of a dress later on. (If you look closely you can see I even managed to keep the original Paul Frank tag on the side). I can basically be used until it falls apart. She seems to like it, too.

I got back to Oslo two hours ago, the lit up town and the scent of autumn in the air made me smile.
I love september, I really really do.
Oh, I also got my test results. If I've learned anything from having a mom that's a nurse it should be to read doctor's papers like these. So yeah, now I think I know why I'm sick. Too bad it didn't make me much happier.

Don't run with scissors.
~Katt

The machine from 1975

2010-09-05T22:33:00.001+02:00

Oh wow, has it really been this long since my last post?
Don't worry, I have tons of excuses this time around. I'm ill (Again, yes. Basically something is wrong and no one knows what.) which has taken all my crafting energy.
And now I've spent a week at my parents place in Sweden.

This is my mom, she's pretty awesome. And That's me. You may now consider yourselves as very awesome people, being the only ones to se the only picture of my, at the moment, horrible hair. I wear hats a lot.

This is my mom's sewing machine. The very first machine I ever sat at, the first machine I learned how to work (that didn't have anything to do with videogames). I love this heavy metal thingy.

The reason I'm showing you this is because my Non-Crafting week ended up to be quite crafty after all. My sister-in-law had this pink tank top she wanted me to try and make something out of for Stella, my niece. Who am I to resist a challenge?
I didn't take a before-picture. I know, I suck a little, but to be honest I was quite sure I'd fail. I had a worn out top, no pattern and guestimate measurements.
Somehow I made it after all, it fitted and turned out pretty cool (for a pink dress). There is a picture of the finished thing, but it's still in my camera and I'm all packed up for the trip back home tomorrow. So I guess you'll get to see it later.

And not to be the one that talks about my man too much, but Mr. Kilt will be back from his tour in a week, wooo! Can't wait.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Nintendo iPhone case

2010-08-13T18:49:00.000+02:00

As promised last night; the pictures of Mr. Kilts finished surprise!

An iPhone case that looks like a Nintendo 8-bit controller. ♥

All details were sewn by hand, I sent Mr. Kilt down town to pick up some grey sewing thread for me, the only thing I didn't have lying around. Thing that are not in the picture is my blue sock I used for the inside to make the phone extra snug, and my "ThatDamnCat" label I attached to the back.

Mr. Kilt is happy, of course. I can't say I'm not jealous. If I had an iPhone I might have kept it myself, but hey, he deserves it.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Sleep is overrated.

2010-08-13T02:50:00.001+02:00

It's almost 3 am and here I am. Wide Awake.
I don't sleep a lot. Most nights I try to, but I'm starting to think that I do it wrong.
It's okey, I find other things to do. Like this one, a surprise for Mr. Kilt.

I should finish the last details sometime tomorrow, so I'll see you then.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Embroidered diary cover.

2010-08-11T23:42:00.001+02:00

Guess what, I finally got passed my fear of embroidering with my new machine!
I figured that a new diary cover would be a great thing to embroider on. That way I will always carry it with me.

My diary...
I've been keeping an "offline" diary for years, have many books filled with scribbles, teen angst and confused thoughts about the world. But this particular book has been with me for 5 years now. One day I just decided not to write and from then on my entries became rarer and rarer. I still kept the book, though, I brought it with me everywhere. No book can handle that kind of abuse without looking sad after a while.

Now my writing urge is back (Something good always comes out of bad situations), which made me make the cover. Maybe a bit of a "forgive me, sweet book for all the rips, cracks and water damage I've caused you" and hope that it will not abandon me now that I suddenly want our relationship back.

The very first embroidery I made is the picture on the right, placed in the back. The left picture is the front cover, both of which I am very proud ^^
I used a very dark grey fabric and black embroiderythread, giving it a subtle prettiness (It's a real word because I say so!).

I got to use my fabric tag for the first time as well, woo! Since I have this uncanny ability of not throwing anything... anything.... I found a pretty leather lace and some heavy iron marbles that I attached as a bookmarker.
As you can see the inside of my poor, darling book is slightly torn as well, but I'll fix that with some glue and maybe a band aid. ♥

Books are awesome, take care of them.
Love,
~Katt

All piled up!

2010-08-06T21:00:00.003+02:00

Went to IKEA with my girlfriends the other day. We spend hours just walking around, chillin', talking and having a blast. Fabric and baby stuff was our goal for the day-trip and sure, we ended up with other things too. (Really, how could you not?)
But that's not the point of this post. This post is about all the fabrics I got and how amazing my friends are, with their incredible patience and help.
We scared away a worker who couldn't believe that I was, in fact, buying all the fabrics piled up on the table. We pissed off an old lady for stealing the last scraps and annoyed everyone else who wanted to use the scale telling the total price.
I cut the fabrics, the amazing G ran around checking the names and putting back rolls and T put them on the scale and attached the prize tags.
Like I said, they're awesome.

Anyway, here's the traditional fabric pics:

They had a sale on basic coloured fabrics so I had to get that. The hearts' one will be turned into bed sheets for T's little one.

Stripes and dots, always a good thing to have around the house "just in case".

I couldn't resist the one with the houses, and the one to the right's very difficult to get a good pic of, but it's a skylight buildings design, all very comic-book and impossible to turn down.

For some reason I've had this thing for bird-fabrics. And birdcages, retro-style is just... awesome.

The two pics above are all images from the same fabric (The scrap an old lady tried stealing from me) and the images.. I mean, come on, how could I turn this down?

That was about it, I think. I'm good for a while, or at least that's what I let Mr. Kilt believe as he sighs and shakes his head, asking where we will find room to put all these amazing fabrics. He's such a sweetie. I always find room, it's just a matter of will.

Since my labels have arrived as well, I should have some great sewing days ahead of me now. All I need is to get rid of this silly fever.

Don't run with scissors.

Love,

~Katt

Fabric tags!♥

2010-08-06T13:05:00.002+02:00

Look at the pretty stuff that arrived in my mailbox last night, my new fabric tags!
I can't wait to create some new things and put my first label on them.♥
It might take a while though, I'm fighting a fever and a migraine at the moment, but when they're defeated...

Don't Run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Today is not a sewing day.

2010-07-26T15:38:00.000+02:00

No, today is about me dragging my feet around the apartment in a washed out t-shirt, mushroom slippers and Mr. Kilt's boxers (He wears a kilt the right way, so why he even owns boxers is a mystery to me) thinking that I should probably start cleaning the apartment.
After spending an hour or so in front of youtube, watching failed engagement proposals (I do laugh at other people's misery sometimes. I'm horrible that way) I noticed that I still need to clean, but my tummy says otherwise. So after making myself a nutritious meal (leftover and a glass of pepsi) I decided to do the dishes... Until I realized that I've forgotten to read my daily blogs, which is a priority above all other, of course.

So now I'm sitting here, in my mushroom slippers, over looking the apartment that is simply refusing to get clean all on it's own. I should probably get to that, right after this blog post. Yeah, let's say that's really true.

Oh! The millionth re-run of How I met your Mother, I just can't miss that. I've seen this episode so many times I know every line. What if I'm wrong? Now I simply must see it to prove myself right.

So much to do, so little time, how do I manage?

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Gift bag

2010-07-17T22:00:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine just turned thirty, so me and the neighbour put together a little goodie-bag for her.
Due to "sad" bank accounts, we decided that hand made things are the best things.
So she's designing the birthday-card and I sewed together a little gift bag and a cardholder.
Now, she's a total goth, but her bathroom theme is light green and since all the stuff we bought is for the bath, we decided to stick with the theme.

(Now, technically I am writing this the day before her celebration, but since she reads my blog I won't let this publish until after the party. There will be drinkin' and I am a horrible speller when tipsy, so... Scheduled posts, For The Win!)

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Mr Kilt's birthday! (aka "The first Quilt I've ever made")

2010-07-14T14:02:00.001+02:00

Mr. Kilt is turning 26 years old today and being the amazing girlfriend I am, I woke him up with blueberry muffins, a new book, a 12 sided dice (it's a long story, not to mention that he lost the last one) and a quilt made from his old shirts!

I am sooo proud over myself for pulling this one off, I've never done anything that even resembles a quilt before, so it's fair to say that I was dead set on failing miserably.
It turned out to be surprisingly easy to make, I spent two afternoons on it, so about eight hours or so.

if you click on the pic for a close up you can see a beige pocket in the lower right. It was Mr. Kilt who requested one so he has somewhere to put his phone.He loses that damn phone a lot.

Anyway, at five-ish we'll be heading to a 50's diner to celebrate with some friends.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Guess what I'm up to...

2010-07-10T00:13:00.003+02:00

Finally I have started on my first quilt ever and of course I can't make it easy on myself, so my first project will be to turn Oku's old t-shirts into a quilt. Last year he lost 40 kilos (ca 88 lbs) in nine months, so all his shirts are way too big, but he can't bring himself to throw them away. Since his birthday is coming up on the 14th, I figured I might as well give it a try.

I am dog sitting as well, a Chinese Crested named Logan, but I mostly call him Cuddlebutt. Mostly Cresties are ehm.. naked, but Cuddlebutt here reminds of a very, very tiny polarbear.
He helps me with the patch placements, simply by lying down on the ones I'm not allowed to move and push away all the others.

Oh yeah, to keep the true Murphy spirit going, I manged to use my new rotary cutter for an entire 3 SECONDS before I cut myself. I know, I've got mad skillz!

Don't run with rotary Cutters.
Love,
~Katt

Happy Dance

2010-06-25T15:14:00.002+02:00

I got myself a new toy yesterday! ♥ It's soooo pretty with lots of buttons and a touchscreen and other fancy things I've never used before....

Now I have to find room for all the extra stuff that came with it, some of which are completely new to me. My comics have just been replaced by a very big instruction manual.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I got a purple wig the other day! I'm sick of my short hair and Ebay has never failed to deliver. I iz ze Poiple! (Yes, poiple. Say purple while stuffing your mouth with potatoes and you will understand.)

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

One more day.

2010-06-18T18:08:00.001+02:00

I'm sorry, my faithful and quietly lurking followers, here's another entry of newly bought fabric. But (!) it will be the last one for a while now, seeing how I'm getting rapidly broke aaaaaand I'm going home tomorrow, Woo! I've had a great time here, but I really miss my friends, my rats (which should be spoiled rotten by my neighbours about now) and my sewing machine.

Anyway, I bought new fabrics. Apparently I didn't feel very colorful today:

I've had a great day today, though, so don't let the grey fool you, it doesn't reflect my mood what so ever. No, me and Oku have been biking around this little harbour town, visting the few stores (Marimekko as well, of course), went to a exhibition about the fashion in southern Finland for the last 200-300 years, which was pretty cool. All of it was original clothes that's been collecting dust in people's basements and attics. It was set up in an old war bunker, which was pretty damn sweet as well.

Tomorrow we'll be spending the day in Finlands capital, Helsinki, before flying back to Norway, with a short stop in Denmark. Maybe I'll find something cool there, but I won't blog about it, so you're safe. Haha.
Aaaaaaaand.... I might not blog for a few days after I get home either, but when I do, I probably have something fun to share. So until then...

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

FBI, Dr Seuss and time travelling.

2010-06-18T11:15:00.002+02:00

My dreams have been a bit all over the place lately. Must be the finnish air. When Oku woke me up around ten and asked if I wanted some coffee I gave him this reply: "Not now, I have some FBI-agents chasing me."
Here's what I dreamed:

Part one:
First I'm in this colloseum like place, where they tell us that something bad is going to happen. So we (me and a million other people) figured we were going to die. For some reason we bring our bedsheets, but when we arrive at the door we hear a "just kidding, get back to your seats." wtf? So I drop all my bedsheets on the way back and no one helps me to pick them up (As they had suddenly multiplied). Hmpf, so much for courtesy among strangers...

Part two:
Suddenly I'm at the bottom of a hill with Oku, we are having a picnic in this weird "privacy globe". The rules of the globe was to never involve in other peoples conversations, whether you knew them or not. Suddenly two of my friends (who are engaged to be married) come out of a door and start arguing. I can see she is upset, but I'm not allowed to run after her when she leaves. Eventually i decide to look for her anyways, but she finds me first. Dressed in black baggy pants, a random goth shirt and a Dr Seuss hat ( Seriously, wtf?!) she's carrying some bottles of wine, saying she's had enough with boys and is now going to get wasted, as soon as she finds another friend of mine.

Part three:
Huey, Dewey, Louie (Swedish:Knatte, Fnatte och Tjatte. Norwegian: Ole, Dole og Doffen) and I were fixing an elevator to get into a random office building in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason. We get it fixed, but when we go up to the 6th floor we discover that we also travelled 60 years back in time. Suddenly these pissed off FBI-agents are chasing us down some stairs, each staircase taking us 20 years back into the future, but they were gaining on us and I realize I don't want to bring them with me to the future, so I stop and....

...Get woken up by Oku.
I know, it kind of pissed me off too. Sorry.

Don't time travel while running.
Love,
~Katt

Another odd one.

2010-06-16T12:19:00.003+02:00

Right before I woke up I dreamed that I survived a huge zombie war, but on the way home I get hit by a frikkin' bus. Just my luck.
Not the most pleasant way to wake up either.

Don't drive on the sidewalk.
Love,
~Katt

I'm a Knitting Pirate

2010-06-15T09:30:00.000+02:00

Just have to show you this awesome t-shirt I bought a while back. I got it when I had basically no money, so since technically i shouldn't have afforded it, I never remember having it. It's a happy surprise everytime I find it in my drawer when Oku's done the laundry. ♥ I bought it on sale in a comic-book store here in Oslo.
Isn't it the most awesome T-shirt print ever?

I'm a knitting pirate! It's great fun, knitting and crocheting, but I rarely get around to do it much. There is a fully valid reason for it too; I happen to be, kind of... very... bad at it.

These pictures are from 2008, where I attempted to make a simple frikkin´ scarf. Yes, I screwed it up pretty bad. I'd like to think my knitting skills have improved a little since then.

Don't run with knitting needles.
Love,
~Katt

Shopping girl

2010-06-14T23:55:00.001+02:00

The estrogen took over and I've been running in and out of stores all day. Got myself some red Marimekko-fabric on sale and a rotary cutter, which makes me feel a bit less like a girly girl.
Yes, I know I got the cutter for quilting, but it looks like a manly tool, okey? (If Oku can be a man in a kilt then I can be a tomboy in a skirt. Hmpf.)

Don't put yourself on fire.
Love,
~Katt

Treasure Quest continues

2010-06-14T18:51:00.002+02:00

Still in Finland, the treasures keep appearing. Found a bunch of old keys in a sewing box (because that is a perfectly logical place to put them). According to Oku's grandmother one of them could be over 100 years old. Gawd, I think I've reached Nirvana. My crafting mind is going haywire and my love for old things make my heart melt. I also found old original buttons from norwegian and finnish navy-clothing and one from the russian army, randomly enough.

Aren't they beautiful?

Don't eat sharp things.
Love,
~Katt

Attic Treasures

2010-06-13T20:48:00.003+02:00

It turns out I'm having a vacation, who knew?
We reside in Oku's grandmothers house in a tiny harbour town called Hanko (or Hangö, whichever you prefer). It lies in the part of Finland where they speak more swedish than finnish. Yes, Scandinavia is funny that way.

Now, I'm horrible at vacations. Apparently you are meant to take it easy and relax, but I have never experienced this phenomenon. Instead I suffer from the worst crafting/sewing withdrawals in the history of man and do everything I can to keep myself busy.
This has resulted in me shortening too long trousers for Oku's grandma by hand (it's not good for old people to fall in the stairs, i've heard), read more crafting blogs than humanly healthy and running around outside in search for a fabric store.

Now, despite how it sounds, I am not miserable. This house is something of a treasure cave, you find anything! Oku's mother, who is here as well, keeps finding fabrics that she's picked up around the world over the years and to keep her restless almost-daughter-in-law happy she hands them over to me. Oh the joy!
The current pile is the following:

Colorful cotton! All bought in Dubai, except for the green one which is an old finnish Marimekko-design. I've always loved Marimekko, must be in the blood.

Fabric from the Philippines, one in light cream color with white embroidery and one white with light brown embroidery. Both which follow the fabrics end to end.

Blue silk from India to the left, the brown on is linen from england and all the blues on the right are from Dubai.

I'm so amazed that she remembers where she bought them all, some of them are over 20 years old. On the other hand, if I got to travel as much as she has, maybe I would too. No match remembering "the local fabric store in town", so I don't really have anything compare it with, haha.

My head is already full of ideas and I can't wait to get home and start using all my "new fabrics". I'll be staying here for six more days, so until then my treasure hunt will continue and maybe I'll finally find that fabric store I've been looking for.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Jam roll recipe

2010-06-08T01:53:00.014+02:00

Hello, my name is Katt and I'm an insomniac...

Naturally this gives me a lot of spare time during the dark hours of the night. I can't sew since my eyes are too tired to focus, but Baking on the other hand... That I can do.

So at 2 am I decided to make some jam rolls, putting my hunt for the perfect muffin-recipé to the side for a while.

Don't they look delicious?
It's really easy to make and only take about 20 minutes! (It's a lot of text, but don't be scared, I just make sure there is no way for you to screw this up. Because I love you ♥)

What you need:
3 eggs

2 dl granulated sugar

2 dl flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

0,5 dl milk (soy milk works as well!)

For filling you can use any jam you want, in the one above I used strawberry, for example.

What you do:

First of all, put your oven on 250°c (or 480°f). Make sure(!) the oven is warm enough when you're ready to put your cake in (if you leave the "dough" lying around it tastes like you put in too many eggs).

Take a bowl and mix in the eggs and sugar together until slightly poofy (or a lighter yellow). Keep mixing while you throw in the baking powder, then the flour and last the milk. Mix until it's a lump-free goo.
Put baking paper in an oven pan and pour the goo on top of it. Smear it out evenly and throw it into the oven.

Now you have 5 minutes to put another baking paper on the kitchen table and spread some sugar on it. Keep check of the cake while doing this, it burns easily. (The cake WILL grow to be quite big in the over sometimes, but don't worry, it will sink together when you take it out again).

Almost done now, here comes the tricky part:
As soon as the cake is done, take it out and throw it upside down on the baking paper you put sugar on. The paper you had in the oven is now attached to the top of the cake. Carefully peel it off. When that's in the trash, put the jam of your choice on top of the cake and smear it all over the place. It is very important you do this quickly, because if the cake gets too cool it will break when we try to roll it together.
Anyway, let's say you were fast as lightning and your jam is now on, it is time to roll it. Really, there is no trick to this, just roll it, roll it, roll it.... Just don't roll in the paper, that will taste weird.
AND WE HAVE CAKE! ♥

Now, it tastes best cooled, but it can be eaten however. I like putting it in the freezer, it's less of a mess that way, but my fiance likes it chilled and my neighbour likes it room-tempered.

"The cake is not a lie"

Love,

~Katt

Personal calendar

2010-06-06T21:59:00.001+02:00

I'm really picky with personal calendars, so when it's time to get a new one I drive my friends insane.
I seriously spend several days walking from store to store, trying to find the perfect paper and cover. But it's always something wrong; lines are all wrong, it's too big or too small, it has yellow papers ( I hate yellow paper) too little writing space or way too much of it. Never quite right.

After a week or so I found dated papers that were, if not perfect, then good enough. The cover was a lost cause, so I decided to make my own:

With the papers I got two pages of thin cardboard, so I found some black fabric-scraps (thinking now, I probably should have picked something that wasn't so fond of attracting dust), eyelets, some black paper to glue inside and bought some ringlets in the craftstore. Then I put them all together.
We all know I have an amazing pile of buttons in all shapes, sizes and colors, so they became decoration.

I love using black as basis, it goes with everything and brings out the combining colors more.
I mostly dress in black, but I love bright colors and often use them in accessories, it gives me a happy feeling.

Don't super glue your hands together.
Love,
~Katt

Mean Machine & Foodbowl Bed

2010-05-29T21:03:00.006+02:00

My machine and I have not been getting along lately. This resultet in many broken needles, ruined fabrics and machine surgery in places that should probably have been left untouched.
The result is a bit too tragic to take a picture of, but at least it's working, sometimes, in a sad masochistic kind of way (works fine for ten minutes, then I have to take it apart and put back together, works fine for ten minutes, take apart... you get it). Is it odd of me to think that the machine seem to enjoy it?

But fear not, something Amazing is about to happen that will end my machine-misery! Of course I can't write down what just yet (seeing how Murphy loves me and things always tend to go wrong when I take out my joy in advance), but thinking about it makes my toes curl in a good way and I get an intense urge to squeek. But in not too long I will tell you. Hopefully.

Speaking of Nothing: The obsessive part of me feels that it would be very wrong to publish a post without a picture, so here is one of Lilla Grå, the rat who despite having fuzzy hammocks and a little house , finds the best sleeping place to be the food bowl. After throwing all the food out she can...sort of... fit. (I did not put a random ball of fluff in the bowl, if you look closely you can see the ear, I promise):

Don't put forks in power outlets.
Love,
~Katt

New Tattoo

2010-05-18T14:26:00.001+02:00

Got myself a new tattoo on sunday. My love for videogames and my quest on building a new life for myself resultet in a 1 up Mushroom tattoo on my wrist.

It's still healing and hurting like crazy every time I try moving my wrist, but in the end it's all worth it. ♥

It's a good start on my videogame/comicbook sleeve, that will "someday" exist. It's just so damn expensive to become pretty, haha.

Today is going to be spent at home, I've been running around for days now and deserve a day off reality.

Pain is temporary, glory is forever.
Love,
~Katt

Guitar-bag

2010-05-16T21:59:00.001+02:00

Not a bag For a guitar, but a bag shaped as one!

Found the tutorial a long time ago, fell in love, but didn't get around to making it until now. I followed it with a few minor changes, such as an added zipper-pocket in the back and a chain as the strap. (Chain, hooks and zipper are reused items that I've taken from old clothes. Economic, ftw!).
It's something oddly satisfying about using pliers and tongs while making something mainly out of fabric.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Blue(berry) muffins

2010-05-15T12:32:00.000+02:00

So, I've gotten somewhat of a baking bug lately. Among other things I'm searching for the perfect muffin-recipe. This results in piles of different muffins, and a very happy fiancé who gets to eat them, haha.

The other day I found this recipe for blueberry muffins which seemed delicious, but I didn't have any blueberries lying around, so I improvised and used blueberry jam. Result: Veeeeeery purple muffins. (and they were delicious, but still not perfect..)

Don't put your head in the oven.
Love,
~Katt

Generation T

2010-05-14T18:35:00.001+02:00

Ebay is my friend ♥
I found this book online a few weeks ago, while trying to figure out what to do with the piles of old clothes I've gotten from friends and family. Since my darling fiancé lost 40kg (88,2 lbs) in 9 months I also ended up with this huuuge pile of t-shirts that's way to big for him now.
Yesterday it sat in my mailbox and I hadn't even taken off my shoes before I opened the package. on the back I found this adorable pink sticker as well.

Fake leather and fake fur is the shizzle!

The book is just filled with inspiration and ideas and I can't wait to get started. There is a few orders I have to fix first though, but when it's done, then I'll be all over it!

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Baby Hoodie

2010-05-14T18:22:00.001+02:00

Let me introduce you to my brand new niece ♥ The reason for my lack of updates these last weeks.

I went to Sweden for a few days to see her, give her this magnificent hoodie I made just for her and to celebrate my nephew's 12th birthday. I'd do anything for cake, even sit eight hours on a bus, haha.

The hoodie is my own design, for once. no patterns or tutorials followed, just me and my machine.
Adorable, right? ♥

I spent 5 days in Sweden this time around, which didn't give me any time to see friends. You see, I now have six very active nieces and nephews to see, mother with husband, brother with wife, sisters hubby ( Sister was busy). Handball games were played (My nephews team won, woo!) and of course, a lot of time spent carrying this adorable little girl around.
I did see one friend, however. Ajse, who was a sweetheart and came to meet me right before I went on the bus home, so I could give her the birthday prezzie she wanted. A pink button ring. :)

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

While I was cleaning...

2010-04-21T16:28:00.002+02:00

As I started the vacuum cleaner and took a trip around the apartment I started thinking about my mom, and it struck me; If anyone would have told my mom a few years ago that I vacuum my apartment at least once a week, preferably two, there is no way she would have believed them. Hell, I don't think I would have believed them either.
It's funny how things change in the few years that feel as much as an eternity as just a second ago.

Not too long ago I was sure that I would fail at everything I do. Maybe, that's a very small maybe, I would end up as a writer living in some tiny apartment with 57 cats. Even if I would become famous, I would be alone. For some reason that was the thought that never escaped my mind. Always Alone.

I still don't own one single cat. I am still terrified of ending up alone, even though I have a boy that loves me and friends that doesn't turn their backs. I have a family I love, but speak to very rarely. I feel forgotten sometimes. I am still failing from time to time, but I do it with style.
I still want to write that book someday.
But the fact is this: I am almost completely happy. I have gotten further than I, and I am sure many others, thought I would. I'm doing good and I keep moving forward. Actually, I'm doing great.

I thought about my mom while cleaning today. I think I will give her a call.

Love,
~Katt

New project

2010-04-21T15:13:00.001+02:00

Just started a new project. Here's a sneak peak on what I'm working on:

Don't run with cutters.
Love,
~Katt

Cardholder

2010-04-19T15:34:00.000+02:00

I had some scraps left from making the kimono, so I made myself a cardholder.
Being the lazy-butt I am, I used the plastic covers you get together with your bus/train-card as a pattern to get the size right. After that I ripped away the clear plastic and sewed it on to the fabric. I used some dark blue scraps for the inside and for the extra pocket.
The button is just for show, without any real purpose. It's there because I wanted it to.
Anyways...

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Kids kimono

2010-04-19T14:34:00.002+02:00

This is the second time I make a kimono
using This tutorial. Well, the second time I didn't need the tutorial, but i used the same design.

The first one I made for a friends baby daughter, this one is for my niece that's expected any day now. ♥

Due to a temporary economic disturbance (my last draft basically said: "HAHA, YOU'RE BROKE!"), I will have to cancel my planned trip to Sweden for now. The one good thing coming out of this is all the time I will spend in front of the sewing machine until my next pay.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Buttons ♥

2010-04-18T17:37:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I found a bag full of random buttons in all kinds of colors, sizes and shapes. I was thrilled! Just imagine the millions of things you can use these for, the plans, the ideas...! My mind went a bit haywire, craftybrain overload.

They have now taken place in a pretty box on the shelf in my sewing corner, crowding with all the other things some people might call "junk" that I am sure will someday be used for something. I did however find the old ringplates (I knew I had a couple of those lying around!) and with the help of some glue I made myself a new ring. Pretty, pretty!

One mans trash is another crafters treasure.
Love,
~Katt

Oops!

2010-04-11T19:27:00.003+02:00

I'm sorry it's been a while since I last posted, even if I have a pretty valid reason.

As most people know, I am the master of ridiculous injuries and this time is no different. I was in a cleaning-frenzy (read: made the dishes) and went into the livingroom to pick up some coffeecups that needed cleaning. As it turns out, there was a lose nail in the threshold that decided to grab a hold of my jeans and send me flying straight into the bookcase. The bookcase decides to throw piles of stuff on me as I'm lying on the floor, possibly hinting that it wants to be a bit more organized.

You would think I'd get a concussion or at least a bump on the head - but No. Instead I am lying on the floor in agonizing pain, convinced that an axe had fallen down and chopped my foot off or any other form of painful and horrible injury that would make a much more amazing story than this. But I chose to be honest, so here goes...
It turns out I only broke my toe. (It's okey to laugh, but really, it hurt like hell)

Crutches has become a forced-upon frequently worn accessory. I'm lucky they suit me so well.

Not all cats land on their feet.
Love,
~Katt

My rats.

2010-04-03T16:55:00.002+02:00

It's time to introduce two little monsters that takes up a lot of space in my heart and.. well, time. Two little girls who are spoiled beyond belief, but makes my heart melt everytime they look at me with their "Why aren't you sharing whatever you are eating with meeeee"-eyes.
They might not be the most clever duo in the world, but they always run to the cage door when they hear me coming home. They are crazy social, they never bite, instead your hand gets attacked by smooches. It doesn't matter if you're a stranger, they love you anyway.
Here they are, ladies and gentlemen:

Lilla Grå (Little grey)and Annabelle caught my heart right away, one sleeping in the foodbowl making it impossible for her siblings to eat and the other one running straight up to me when I leaned down to look into their cage at the store.
It is actually impossible not to love my monsters. When I visit my mom, who is incredibly scared of my ratsies, even she can't resist the urge to sneak them some yummy apple-pieces or cookie-crumbs. She denies it, but for some reason my rats always go back home with me a little chubbier than when we left.

But no one is perfect. Lilla Grå hates sharing food with her sister and Annabelle is probably the only rat in the world with claustrophobia. The cause is probably something that happened about 2 months after I got them:
I had these colorful pipes for the rats to run around in, which had worked great when they were tiny, but rats grow fast (apparently to fast for themselves to realize) and one day I found Annabelle in the middle of a pipe - completely stuck. I had to take it all apart completely and kind of wiggle her out of there, which took almost an hour. Poor thing.

Anyway, they are my babies that I can't imagine ever having lived without. Do you have an animal that means the world to you?

Don't run with scissors.
Love,

~Katt

Pleasant dreams

2010-04-02T13:03:00.002+02:00

For the first time in what feels like forever I slept a whole night without nightmares.
Instead of monsters, death, panic, waking up with my heart going 1000mph and tears streaming down my face, I dreamed of kittens and yarn.
I woke up with a smile on my face, today.

I really want to get back into knitting again(just a little late, season-wise). I know the basics, but I've never had the patience to learn enough to make mittens or beanies or other cozy things. But after last night, I feel like I have the energy to give it another try.

Don't run with scissors.
Love,
~Katt

Baby clothes

2010-03-29T19:19:00.003+02:00

I sew baby clothes, a lot. It might seem strange seeing how I have no kids, but sometimes it feels like I am the only one. I have been an auntie since I was ten years old and now I have three nephews and two nieces. In April one more will be added as my brother's wife is expecting a baby girl. ♥
Many friends of mine also seemed to have a boring 2009 since they've either popped out a little one or is walking around with big bellies.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this. It lets me make adorable wittle clothes for them, whether they want it or not. There is just one tiny problem.
They all live in Sweden.

Since I reside in the country "next door", I can never take a picture of the clothes I make, while they're attached to an actual baby. Instead I have to wait for them to take the picture after they've recieved the clothes by mail, or improvise.
And lucky for me, I am Great at improvising!

Squeee, here posing in a ballerina skirt made for a friend of mine's baby daughter.

You use what you have available, in this case - My faithful skelanimal Squeee. Next time I will show you how my rats look in a baby kimono!
Just kidding, of course (they would eat it before I got my camera out), but I am making a baby kimono, so until next time:

Don't run with scissors.
Love,

~Katt

Embroidery dreams...

2010-03-22T21:01:00.002+01:00

I've spent all last night (since I still can't sleep like a normal person) and the entire of today drooling over this beautiful machine; The Brother NV1250 for sewing and embroidery (Picture is of the disney version, ignore that). I've imagined and dreamed of all the amazing things I could create if I had my hands on one of those. But no, my bank-account does not agree.

I'm not a wealthy person, the machine I have now did not cost much, but it has served me well and I won't let anyone give me crap about it. When I was in my sewing course there was this fourty-something woman who asked me what machine I had. I said I wasn't sure, so she asked about the price. I told her and she started telling me that it was crap, wouldn't work and that I'd save money throwing it right away. "How dumb are you for buying something so cheap?"
I still to this day cannot understand how she could say such a thing. Finding this machine was one of the best days of my life. It sews buttonholes, straight- and zigzag seams and it works. I really don't ask for much more than that.

But a girl can dream, right?

~Katt

Pencil Pocket for Moleskine

2010-03-22T00:50:00.002+01:00

I spend most of my sundays playing videogames, but today I wasn't in the mood. Instead I surfed the web, looking for some inspiration and new sewing projects. Stumbled upon a tutorial for a Pencil Pocket for Moleskine notebooks, and decided to make one for Oku, who is a big fan of moleskines, but always have trouble finding his pencils. Here's the result:

I just got a hold of some fabrics with "earthy colours" which I know Oku is a fan of, and let him choose which ones he wanted me to use.

It was really easy to make, quick too. Perfect for those days when you want to do Something but don't have the energy for a full project. If you want to give it a try (andfor some reason missed my loooong link above, then click Here.

Now it's time for me to cuddle up in the sofa with a cup of tea before bed. It's a new week tomorrow!

~Katt

My workplace

2010-03-21T21:24:00.002+01:00

(This is of course a montage. Normally my desk is covered with piles of crap, fabrics and papers, but it wouldn't look as fancy, now would it? )

My sewing machine cover was the very first thing I made when I bought my sewing machine. With the buy I got this weird, white plastic cover that I really hated. Of course all I needed to do was drop it within reach of my faithful rats, turn my back for one second and it was a cover - no more.

Being the lazy bastard I am (really, patterns are such a bore), I cut the remains of the old cover and used the pieces as a pattern for my new one. Haha! I said, thinking I beat the system, but then it dawned on me... To be able to sew anything I need actual fabric.

This was the time before I had gotten the collection of scraps and fabric that is now threatening to take over the apartment. All I had was this butt-ugly skirt my old teacher had forced me to make out of tablecloths, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do and a little measuring, cutting and sewing later the ugly skirt became my new awesome sewing machine cover.

~Katt

ThatDamnCat designs

Handpainted platter and brandy-pipe (Christmas 2011)

Handpainted coffee-mugs (christmas 2011)

Sssshhh...!

Skull plate set

Shameless narcissism

Knotted bracelets.

Circus-crutches

Anchor Beach Bag

Hippie Bag!

Patches bag!

Mr. Kilt's new Penholder

My new baby♥

Crafting with Kids: Barbie"house"

Crafting with Kids - Aquarium

Cutesy baby Bow

Sew Cool and Game Over Mugs

another quick re-vamp.

Personalized mugs.

Porcelain painting

Panda Hoodie

Geocaching & TreasureBags

Mei Tai Babycarrier

Harry Potter Cloak

17th of may celebration

Amigurumi training (And cute dog)

Another iPhone holder...

Hoodie for Logan

"Holy crap it's Sunday!" machine cover

Second of the second

Baby-quilt

Good-to-Go Cardholders

Mario Mushroom Coasters

Giveaway winner!

One Yard Wonders + GIVEAWAY! (CLOSED!)

Ipad-case

Diaper bag

Some christmas gifts

Needle cushion bracelet

Craftin' quickie

Idiot-proof Santa Hat tutorial.

Mourning

Winterskirt, or "Omg, I made something for myself!"

Sneak peak

Black knight costume

Duct tape picture frame.

Nautical flags

I actually won something!

Fabric bomb

Another form of creativity

Stella's new dress

The machine from 1975

Nintendo iPhone case

Sleep is overrated.

Embroidered diary cover.

All piled up!

Fabric tags!♥

Today is not a sewing day.

Gift bag

Mr Kilt's birthday! (aka "The first Quilt I've ever made")

Guess what I'm up to...

*Happy Dance*

One more day.

FBI, Dr Seuss and time travelling.

Another odd one.

I'm a Knitting Pirate

Shopping girl

Treasure Quest continues

Attic Treasures

Jam roll recipe

Personal calendar

Mean Machine & Foodbowl Bed

New Tattoo

Guitar-bag

Blue(berry) muffins

Generation T

Baby Hoodie

While I was cleaning...

New project

Cardholder

Happy Dance