No mama, no.
Yesterday I was sick. I woke up with a fever and a head ache and so did Creamie. Thankfully she was totally (well partially) content to spend the morning laying on my bed and listening to music, with a little napping thrown in. She loves music and asks for it ALL the time. She can’t eat or play or read stories or sweep the floor without something playing. And when one song ends and there is a 2 second pause before the next begins she will ask me where the music went. Everytime. It’s adorable. But, I found out today that she doesn’t like it when I sing. Hates it in fact. I was singing along to a favorite song and she put both hands on my face and said “No. No mama, no.” And everytime I tried to sneak it by her she did the same thing. Apparently I just don’t measure up to the pros, and she noticed. She’s a quick one that girl.
I’ve been working on cleaning up my crafty/sewing room since last week. I found these vinyl stickers ages ago and I am just in love with them. In L.O.V.E. I want them on my wall, and on my sewing machine, and on my bookshelf, and around the window and on my car. Oh, and I want that car too. Sigh, I love finding pretty things. Just looking at them brightens up an otherwise totally dreary Tuesday. Here is hoping Wednesday is better!
Crafty Truckers
Yesterday during lunch I was reading my newspaper when I saw a headline that caught my eye. “Idle Pastime: In Off Hours, Truckers Pick up Stitching.” Seriously? Yeah. If ever there was a catchy headline, this was it. I just had to read it. And when I had read it, I just had to share. It’s that good.
“Since last year, when the economy left drivers with fewer hauls, Mr. White, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound ex-Air Force mechanic with a bushy mustache, has hunkered down inside his truck in his many off hours, making quilts from patterns with names like “Meet Me In Paris.” When he’s not sewing, he’s daydreaming about it, he said as he ran a square of yellow cotton with little violets through his machine. “Oh, there’s many a time you’re just going down the road at O-dark-thirty in the morning and you just start thinking about a particular pattern.” [from WSL article]
His wife is a quilter and suggested he try it to pass the time, so they bought a $179 sewing machine which he sets up next to his mini fridge in the cab of his truck. Since August he has made 7 quilt tops. Seven! From the cab of his truck. Amazing!
Kevin Abraham-Banks, a Sioux Falls, S.D., trucker, likes to knit while passing the time on the road. Here he makes a sweater for his wife.
[ photo from the Wall Street Journal online ]
This guy Kevin “learned to knit last year after load-volumes slowed. Creating something tangible beats sitting around the truck stop “talking about who has a bigger radio,” he said. He’s finished a scarf and socks, and is working on a sweater for his wife. “The fact that you can take strands of thread and basically make something out of it, that’s awesome I think,” he said. “It’s pretty cool stuff, man.” [quoted from WSL article]
He is a big tough trucker guy with a shaved head and dragon tattoos and he knits in his spare time. I am pretty sure his next tattoo is going to look something like this. Don’t you think that would go great with the dragons?
[ image ]
I am totally amazed. Number one, that a big touch trucker guy is knitting. Number two that he is knitting a sweater for his wife. Number three that other big tough trucker guy has a Sewing machine in his truck and has made seven quilt tops in 8 months. If he can do that, surely I can finish up a few of my projects that are lying around the house. Right? Right. Now, I’m off to do something productive.
Cherry Blossoms
Growing up my grandparents had cherry trees. I used to love to climb them in the spring and drink in the smell of those beautiful pink blooms. (Of course I love them, they are pink!) One of the things on my Bucket List is to visit the Cherry Blossom Festival. Or, if we are being adventurous, I’d like to be in Japan and see them in full bloom there. But since neither of those adventures are on the list for THIS spring , I’ll content my self with these. (And maybe go to my local tulip festival.) Now, if only someone could invent a scratch and sniff computer app…..
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image + tutorial ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
Do you want to know how hard it was to narrow this post down to 13 photos? (That’s such a lucky number, don’t you think?) One of my really bad habits is to open a million tabs on my browser of things I love and just look at them. I bookmark some of them, sometimes, but other times I just keep them open and look at them. It drives Scott crazy. The other day I had three different windows open and each one had more than 20 tabs. But they were totally organized. One was all Japanese tape, one was all the color lavendar, one was all old wooden spools and antique/vintage sewing supplies and thread on ebay and etsy and flickr and weheartit. He was doing some computery thing that required restarting the computer, and the dear sweet man bookmarked every single one of those tabs so I wouldn’t lose any of them. It was at least 60. Atleast. And he did it in three different folders, one for each of my windows so they would still be all organized. I love him. Happy Monday!
Little Pink Dress
I just finished Creamie’s Easter dress. It’s made from a pink sheet I bought on my thrfting jackpot last week. (I still don’t know if my new/old sewing machine works. It’s under stacks of fabric already!) I used Butterick B5017 and after I took out two inches out of the bodice it went together as perfect as could be. And she looks so cute, I just can’t get over it!
I used maybe 1/40th of the pink sheets to make this dress. Which, if you do the math adds up to all of $.15, and the lining was basically free because I bought those sheets like 3 years ago and I’ve definitely already got my money out of them. The only other thing I needed to make this dress was 1 yard of eyelet trim, which cost $1.57. This brings our grand total to under $1.75. Man, I love being cheap! And I am totally getting addicted to buying sheets at the thrift store. It’s just so much fabric for so cheap! I can’t get over it. Of course, the sheets take up a lot more space in my stash than my usual fat quarters or yard purchases…. I’m going to get to work doing something about that problem. It’s an awesome problem to have. I’m linking up to Sew&Tell. Go check out the other projects, it’s a great way to start the weekend!
Obsessed
I am obsessed. And it has been wonderful. My new love (besides markers in every color, and black licorice, and sewing till midnight and chocolate chip cookies) is Japanese Masking Tape. I have been working on getting my craft room usable, and I found a ribbon organizer that I bought last November. I think I want to fill it up with tape. I just can’t get over how pretty they all are.
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
[ image ]
I particularly love this last picture. I would love to have this whole stack on my desk. Now it’s not “if” I get some tape, it’s “when is it going to get here.” I think it is going to be perfect to use in the art journal class I am going to take next month. Now, if someone would just invent a magic machine that will teleport the items you purchase online into your living room in under 30 seconds that would be awesome. I hate waiting. I just don’t have the patience for it.
I can’t wait!
I am so excited for April 26. I can’t wait for this class to start. There isn’t a think about Elsie or Rachel that I don’t like! Last fall I took a class from Elsie and I LOVED it. I wish this class was starting right now. Eeeek!
Introducing BlueBird
Saturday afternoon we stopped by my local thrifting spot to see if there was anything we couldn’t go home without. It was a much luckier day than usual! And I even restrained myself from buying any more wool sweaters to felt. And it was still just awesome. I found a baby scooter ($3) for my little sister’s soon to arrive baby that is in excellent shape and barely even dirty. I got Creamie a little pink chair ($2) to drag around the house and assist her in climbing up on top of couches, other chairs and into her crib. I found a really cute cream spring purse with lime green interior ($1.50). I found two cast iron molded baking trays ($3 each) that are just plain awesome. I am going to make cornbread muffins in them this week. I found about 10 yards of pink floral fabric in the form of a brand new king size sheet set ($6) to make into Easter dresses and possibly a baby bedding set. And I am sure I’ll still have leftovers. So, if it stopped there, that would still have been awesome. But, these next three I am the most excited about!
[ vintage metal file box for 4×6 cards ($1) ]
This is probably going to be my new spot for stashing finished cards just waiting for their turn to become Happy Mail.
[ Sandi Henderson’s Garden Henna in pink with vintage sheet ($1) ]
I ordered this farmers market print (on the left) last week from this shop and I am thrilled to have found a twin size sheet that goes with it so perfectly. No idea what I am going to make this into… but for being manufactured decades apart and with zero knowledge of the other, they go together amazingly well. I think in the design world they call that “mixing the old with the new.” But seriously, it’s just so cute! Maybe I’ll make these into bags, maybe a spring jacket for Creamie. Or maybe I’ll do what I do with most fabric I just absolutely love. Keep it in the stacks and love it and look at it and wait for something that is just perfect to do with it. I’ll probably do that.
So, even though it was already a beyond fantastic thrifting day, the next item will knock your socks off. Well, maybe not yours, but it did mine. This is the kind of thing that I would go without food for. And I’ve done that before. Once upon a time when I was a super poor newlywed, and both of us were going to school and working full time I found an old Flexible Flyer sled. And I blew the weeks grocery budget and bought it. And I couldn’t have been happier then or now. So, in keeping with blown grocery budget’s, I introduce you to BlueBird.
[ sewing table with aqua sewing machine ($25) ]
An old sewing table with it’s original aqua sewing machine! She was quickly named BlueBird. The table needs a little cleaning and refinishing, and I don’t even know if BlueBird works yet, but I love her. They had two of these fold out sewing tables, and both were priced at $25. Only, the other one didn’t have it’s machine anymore, so the poor sap that gets that one is totally getting ripped off,. When we were at the store, the plan was for this to be my new bedside table. But when we got home I decided to do some other rearranging and this is going to live in my crafty room. Which unfortunately at the moment is an absolute disaster. The closet is clean, and everything else is a nightmare. But I have newfound motivation to clean it up and make room for this baby. And to get my other sewing machine off of the dining room table so we can eat there. It’s been hanging out in the dining room along with a few boxes of fabric and scraps and scissors and whatnots since before Thanksgiving. So, my new spring organizing/cleaning/painting/decorating/sewing project is to clean up and finish my craft room. It’s been in shambles for months, and by the end of April it’s going to be a place where I can hang out with BlueBird and make stuff.
Hmmm, I’ve had my other sewing machine for almost 4 years and she doesn’t have a name yet…. that doesn’t seem quite fair. Any suggestions?
And the Mending and the Washing and the Ironing…..
Mending week is over. Finally. But of course the washing never ends. I did put an end to the ironing a good 9 years ago when I decided not to purchase any more clothing that requires ironing. Brilliant. Now whenever I pull out my ironing board, it is to “press” something. And that my friends is totally different. This week I’ve sewed on buttons (an eternal chore) fixed large shouldered dresses to fit small shouldered little girls and mended a favorite sweater. But the real project was jeans. It seems that everyone’s jeans have holes. Everyone’s. Mine, Scott’s, the neighbor down the street and their two boys. And so this week has been spent mending jeans. A totally thankless (even though they all said thank you), but cost effective task. And, sewing patches inside and outside the small legs of jeans for small boys is a workout. You can cross exercise off the list after a few pairs of those. (Not that exercise ever goes on my list. It doesn’t.) This was my stack to start with.
[ image ]
OK, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. But only a little. Mending jeans is totally uninspiring, unless of course you are AmySmart, then you can make mending fun. I can’t make mending fun, particularly when it is jeans for us adults. That just doesn’t seem conducive to funness and cute heart and flower patches. Somehow I don’t think my neighbors husband would have been pleased with hearts on his knees and back pockets. Though for the life of me I can’t figure out why. For his jeans he requested some mend-distress-ing. Aftermarket distressing? I don’t know exactly what to call it. I guess he did the real heavy duty distressing before they came to me, and I did the patching up kind of distressing. Kind of like re-distressing his distress…. now I am just confusing myself.
[ image ]
Anyway, what I did for his was kind of like this tutorial here. I was surprised at how it turned out. I mean, I would never pay good money for pants that already had holes in them. But I can get behind the aftermarket distressing and repair technique. I’ll try this one again. It’s practical and trendy. And since when have those two things ever gone hand in hand?
In other sewing news/un-news. My alphabet quilt is coming along nice and slow. My original plan was to be done by April 15th…. but it’s not going to happen I don’t think it’s going to happen. Ah well, no big deal. It has been a fun evening project. And having it in my lap and stitching away makes TV bearable to watch. Kind of.
I also have some really great news about my Alisa Sue quilt. I found out that it sold at the charity auction in Omaha last Saturday for $95.00. I was SOOOO excited and I couldn’t be more pleased. I am so thankful that it was able to raise a little money for Mariah’s family to help with her mind boggling medical bills. I am linking up to Amylouwho’s Sew&Tell. Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comments, I try to reply to every single one. Don’t be shy, I’d love to “meet” you!
A Graham Cracker Kind of Day
[ image ]
The past few days I have had zero motivation to spend any time whatsoever in my kitchen. So this has been it for me. Creamie still gets real food. Scott is eating frozen burritos and pizza and I am eating graham crackers and milk. And a lot of it.
It’s Easy Being Green
Green is my second favorite color, after pink of course. I am going to a St. Patty’s breakfast with some friends this morning and I am making green baking powder biscuits! Yummy. Since you can’t all come, here are a few things to brighten up your day! And may the luck o’ the Irish be with you.
[ image ]
Prettiest chair I’ve seen in a long time. I want one at my house.
[ image ]
Springy new trench. I really like the belt.
[ image ]
Amy Atlas is just incredibly amazing. Seriously, everything she does is fabulous.
[ image ]
And so is Orla Keily. I want to be her when I grow up.
[ image ]
Amy Butler’s Wallflower in Green, from the Lotus collection.
[ image ]
Come on now, what owl lover wouldn’t love this watch?
[ image ]
There isn’t anything quite like fresh new blades of grass.
[ image ]
Nicole at Making it Lovely posted this pic yesterday. Cutest drying rack ever? Yes!
[ image ]
I love Mary Jane’s. I love everything about them, and these are no exception.
[ image ]
Happy St. Patricks Day.
pinksuedeshoe 