Happy Birthday!
So much to do…
Scott’s birthday is tomorrow. I’m up to my earrings in things to do to be ready. (You could read into that this his gift is FAR from finished!) Last night I sat down to work on getting everything put together and about 10pm my friend called me. You see, she had the inside scoop on an estate sale. And I dropped everything, called another friend to go with me and at 10:05 I was in the car reading cryptic directions with my flashlight to “the motherlode”. We shopped in the dark with a flashlight. And I got some very cool stuff. My friend got some very cool stuff. I’ll take pictures next week after the birthday madness has subsided.
[ Felt play sewing machine from Red Velvet Art. Love! ]
Right now I need to park myself in front of this and work work work. Well, not this one. I’ll need one with a real needle if I have any hope of getting anything finished. But this one is SUPER cute and I think Creamie is ready to learn how to sew.
Measuring tape goes Fab.
I long time ago I got one of those dollar store sewing kits. You know, the kind with 9 inches of 18 colors of thread, two white buttons, a plastic thimble and a 2 inch pair of scissors. All totally useless. Well, except for the button I needed to sew my shirt back together that one time. Anyway, it also had a teeny little 27 inch measuring tape. (Twenty seven inches? What kind of random number is that!) Pretty useless considering I’ve got tape measure’s stashed in every drawer in my house, my purse and my car. Yesterday during naptime I took that little blahs-ville measuring tape and turned it into something infinitely more fabulous.
Ta-da! Useless tape measure to pretty flower pin. Cost? Free.
First I cut the tape measure into 5.5 inch pieces, and then used a dab of superglue to glue them into little loops. Then I stacked those loops up and glued them together. The flower center is just a scrap of a red wool sweater I bought at the thrift store last year for felting. After the felting process (wash in really hot water and dry in a hot dryer, it’s pretty complicated) it turned out to be a SUPER hefty sweater shaped piece of felt. It’s almost a quarter inch thick!
Dear Old Navy: those red wool sweaters you were selling a few years ago are a gillion times better as felt than sweaters. I’m just sayin’.
I superglued that bit of felt on the front, and then glued a pinback to the back. I was going to add a button to the center, but I think I like it better without. And with only five minutes of naptime used on crafty business you’d think I would have spent the rest of it doing something worthwhile. You know, like finishing Scott’s birthday present or something. But no, instead I ate ice cream and checked out the interwebs. Story of my life. I’m going to be up late every night until Sunday to get his present finished on time. But oh man, it’s going to be a good one!
A Pear Tree
A few months ago I was rummaging through my mom’s sewing supplies looking for a particular color of thread. In my digging I came across this loose piece of linen that she had embroidered for my grandma way back in the day.
[ click on pic to see larger ]
I fell instantly in love with it. I kind of have a thing for pears anyway, and I’ve been collecting pieces of stitchery from the thrift store for a while now. I really wish that I had a wall in my kitchen to hang it on. I’d need a pretty big wall. I have amassed quite the pear collection. Thanks Mom for letting me bring this one home. I promise to one day have it properly framed so I can look at it everyday.
Paranormal Activities
On Saturday afternoon I went to a very cute little bookstore called The King’s English to meet my new favorite author, Kiersten White. She’s been on my list of favorite people since I was in 5th grade, but now she is in the big leagues. And she deserves to be there. Her debut novel Paranormalcy was released just two weeks ago and already she is #7 on the New York Times Bestseller list for children’s literature. Awesome, right! Yes.
[ Come on, isn’t that cover awesome? Way better than any Nicholas Sparks* book. ]
Kiersten is on a booksigning tour right now and I was so glad I could make it to see her. I read her book last weekend and it was one of the most entertaining few hours of my life. I started reading Paranormalcy about 1 in the morning and finished before I went to sleep a few hours later. I couldn’t put it down, and didn’t want to. (You can read the first 70 pages online for free here.) I could tell you a lot of favorite things about the book, how I loved each character, how she allows herself to be funny and sarcastic and hilarious, how she writes a great make-out scene, how she pokes fun at Twilight, and how I recognize my own little bits of highschool life all weaved in there.
[ heidikins, me and author Kiersten White ]
But my very most very favorite part of the book is on page 211, top right side. “I could have used a shower, too, not to mention some makeup. My eyelashes were as blond as my hair; without mascara I felt like a five-year-old.” That is me and my twin sister, heidikins. No, literally, it is. We went to school with Kiersten and on Saturday she told that whole group of adoring fans that these two sentences were directly inspired by us. I was beaming. Of course that might also have been the sun reflecting off my blond hair, I can’t be sure.
Being the adoring fan that I am, I made pink cupcakes to take to her at the booksigning. But I misplanned my time so my sister and I ended up postponing lunch so we could frost them in the backseat of the car with a bamboo skewer while hanging out in the bookstore parking lot. I also made little baby Paranormalcy books to stick in the top of each one, which I cut out, and glued together in the front seat with my handy traveling craft kit, while heidikins wielded the skewers and frosting in the back. It was comical to say the least. And I took some pictures of the whole crazy process, but for whatever reason (ahem, mostly due to the fact that we were doing all of this in the backseat of the car…) they turned out beyond awful, out of focus and terribly fuzzy. So you’ll just have to take my word for it. The cupcakes however, were divine.
You should give Paranormalcy a try, and I’m not just saying that because she is my friend. It was one of the funniest books I’ve read ever. So, go read the first 70 pages for free, and then you can decide. Me, my sister and the cupcakes all agree that it is fantastic.
*Kim R. that’s for you. Ha!
Happiness Is…
Listening to good music.
Telling secrets on the phone.
Sharing a laundry basket with your best friend.
Happy Tuesday.
And one more makes four
It started out as a lovely weekend. On Friday Scott left work a little early, we grilled some steak and fresh veggies for dinner and just generally had a wonderful Friday. And then Saturday came, and it did not disappoint. I got to sleep in until nearly 10 o’clock. Thank you Creamie! I spent the morning making some of these cupcakes and then I met my sister for a lunch date and more awesomeness (which I’ll go into in another post). On the way home I decided it wouldn’t be a well spent Saturday unless I stopped at the thrift store. And the thrill of shopping without Creamie’s help didn’t make it a hard decision. Nevermind that I had been to this same store less than 24 hours earlier, you never know what is going to change. And what if I missed something! I know, the horrors. Here’s what I didn’t miss.
First up is this pretty mustard purse. Its super soft leather (real leather mind you) and I love the color. The best part about it came when I asked the dude with the keys if he would unlock the case so I could see it (yes, it was locked up in the case. Nine West has made it in the big times). When I pointed to the one I was interested in, this very nice, but SUPER shy, mid forties man said “The Mustard one?” … Are you serious? He knows the color “mustard” and how to use it in a sentence? Anyone else as shocked as I am? I was sure that your standard issue man only comes with 8 colors and “mustard” is certainly not one of them. Moving on. The bag is nearly perfect. There are no major flaws/stains/scuffs/scrapes/etc. It’s the perfect size, not too slouchy and as soft as can be. And for only $10 I have the perfect new(ish) bag for fall.
And now onto the title of my post. And one more makes four. I saw this baby, a 1960’s Penncrest Caravelle 12 hanging out on a bottom shelf. I’m sure you know how the rest of the story goes, what with the squealing and the jumping and all. Ok, so maybe that was only in my mind, but I can’t quite be sure. This baby is a combo of a deep dark peacock green (or is it turquoise, I’m not sure.) The part around the keys is more the color of a Mallard duck… but that doesn’t sound nearly so romantic as deep dark peacock green. And I like all the romance I can get around my typewriter obsession collection.
This little machine came with it’s case, and is in great shape. It even has the original key. I’ll of course take it in to visit Stan the Typewriter Man for a little tuneup, but as far as I can tell it’s in good working order. And if it turns out that it has some major flaw that I am unaware of, Creamie can play with it. It was only $8 (EIGHT DOLLARS!!!!!), and unless there is something I’m missing about the Penncrest brand (I’d never heard of it before) I won’t mind if it gets a little extra wear and tear. Not that I am going to stop looking for a toy typewriter. Because I won’t. I do need to think of a name for this one, and decide on it’s gender. Wow, don’t take that sentence out of context… it makes me sound totally crazy. (And if you take it IN context, then it only makes me sound a little nuts. What can I say, I’m a girl in love with my typewriters.) It started out as a lovely weekend, and then it just got better.
Dear Monday, please don’t turn out to be totally lame.
(The colors of my latest thrifting adventure are totally reminding me of one of the back to school shopping outfits I posted a few weeks ago (Number 4.) Nothing like a little mustard yellow and deep peacock green to start your fall off on a good note.)
A New Old Dress
I found this dress in a box of my baby clothes that my mom gave me after Creamie was born.
I love the smocking on the front. I love that it is pink.
I love the little bit of lace on the sleeves.
I love that I wore it when I was a little girl. I love that Creamie is wearing it.
I love this little face.
Pillows!
Finally this project is finished. I’ve been telling myself (and every single person that has sat on my couch for at least a year) that I was going to make some new throw pillows. And finally they are finished. Look, the old one’s had grown eye’s and had started eating things. Thankfully no small children were lost. Cheerio’s and small toys? Well I’m afraid they have suffered a very high casualty rate at the mouths of the couch monsters.
A few weeks ago Hancock’s had all of their linen on sale for 75% off. And that was just the kick in the pants I needed to get myself started. I took in a couch cushion as a very large color sample, and I picked out 5 different colors. Old pillows? Blahs-ville. New pillows? Awesome! And it only cost me $8.63. Not bad for five new linen pillows.
Since my old pillows were absolutely done for, I decided that this time around I wanted to make pillows AND removable covers. I do have a one year old and the more things that I can throw in the wash, the better. So a few nights ago I pulled out my stash of plain muslin and cut out five new pillows, stuffed them with polyfill and sewed them shut. (The stuffing from the old pillows is going to get new life in another project.) And last night I finished all five covers. They just have an envelope closure on the back, because I’m cheap and didn’t want to buy zippers. (Not to mention I still have not faced my fear of putting a zipper in any project.
They aren’t perfect by any stretch, but at least they aren’t going to eat anyone. And that’s something I can live with. I am thinking that the pillow on the far right above needs a little something extra. Maybe I’ll add some argyle loveliness in the orange and blue? I’m adding these to Sew+Tell at Amy’s. Thanks to the Friday deadline I have a good reason each week to keep pushing myself to finish something instead of surf the interwebs for new projects and eat hot fudge sauce. Of course, there’s a great deal of that going on too.
Autumn Plaids
Sometimes I really wish it would just be cold and fallish already.
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[ for sale here ]
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[ for sale here ]
Please autumn, get here already. I’m ready.
pinksuedeshoe 