Christmas Morning

After we open the presents while drinking a sparkling beverage, The Mister was a sweetheart and made bacon and eggs. That's my new coffee cup. I think it's a "J" for joy, but I'll take "J" for Judy.

See Si licking his lips? Bacon stealer!

The theme this year is Yellow Submarine! We all live in a yellow submarine!

The Mister's stash.

The Mister's Yellow Submarine.

My stash.

Little green man.

That's an inside joke.

Sandy, our neighbor's cat, lonely and forgotten. We decided to save him this Christmas from the rain and wind, so The Mister put up the old pup tent we used to use for our indoor felines, you know for fun.

And it looks like he likes it!

So probably out of some guilt he buys Si an indoor pup tent for Christmas. Awwwww.

Silas really liked his fishy mat, although he smelled himself and subsequently sprayed the mat at a later time.

Look a solar power welcome kitty.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Old Man!

I was up at dawn laying out the presents - one propeller replica that is 7 feet tall, hand blown glass ice cubes, a laminated poster of the Beaufort scale, a fancy stopwatch 60 second sweep analog style, and this hand painted card.

Then I went back to bed. He got up, made coffee, and opened up the card. Shortly thereafter I woke up and he opened up the presents. The propeller he knew about because I wanted to get him one from Restoration Hardware. Pictured here. But ended up with something made of darker wood.

The stopwatch he sort of knew too, but I was like swimming in possibilities and finally told him - well it went down like this.

Me: "Now, what EXACTLY do you want?"
Him: "Not a digital. I want an old-fashioned stopwatch."
Me: "OK but here's the deal. There are these two stemmed, 30 second sweep, 15 min timers aplenty. Does that sound like what you want?"
Him: "Huh?"
Me: "You know, the tick tock goes around in 30 seconds."
Him: "What?"
Me: "You do know what a stopwatch is, right?"
Him: "My coach wore one ... like (the TV show) 60 minutes."
Me: "Oh."
Me: "So you want a 60 second sweep?"
Him: "Ummm."

One week later.
Me: "Dude, you're on your own with the stopwatch."
Him: "Okay."

But of course I kept on looking, and I found something too. Really sweet!

It is connected with Voice Over and that is something I've been wanting to try forever. So I bought the stopwatch and secretly, well not really, have been wanting to keep it for myself. But I didn't.

He's been timing everything too. More on that later.

Time Flies...

This lovely card was mailed to me from Brisbane, Australia by a blogger named Caroline.

It is my received postcard from The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap hosted by Beth. The theme was "time." Caroline wrote in the message space on this card,

"Time flies when you're having fun."

Ain't that the truth?

Thank you Caroline for the bright and happy card!

View all postcards in this swap over on Flickr.

Postcard Swap

I'm feeling kind of crafty and I'm looking for something new to do, so I decided to get involved The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap.

Check it out! You might like to participate too!

Five things I didn't accomplish on my vacation

1. The mess that is my office/craft/sewing room is still a mess.
2. The books that need to be sorted and separated were not.
3. I didn't go to the desert. I was all to set to go. I wanted to stay here for a few nights, but a little stripy kitty was not allowed, and I couldn't bear to leave him behind.
4. I didn't go to Salmon Creek Falls on my birthday as suggested by Mrs. Oz - who won my birthday contest. But it is an adventure for the future.
5. I didn't really relax. Why are vacations like that? I look forward to them with great anticipation, then in the mist of it all, the countdown to return to work begins.

Five things I've accomplished on my vacation

1. I figured out how to transfer my vinyl album music (much of it is classical) to my iPod using my new Crosley turntable. Love their retro stuff. 
2. I received Hammacher Schlemmer sound oasis for my birthday, and it's my new favorite thing. The ocean or the forest, I'm there, baby. 
3. I changed the part in my hair. I've had an always and forever over-my-right-eye side part. Well, just for kicks, I changed it to my widow's peak, which has been white since I was 25 years old. Yep I hid the "gray." Now I'm flaunting it! Sort of. I still have a dot of white in the middle of head that I hide. I've had that from birth. When hairdresser people point it out, I tell them it's where the aliens probed me as a baby. (And I believe it too.)
4. I tried (and failed miserably) to make a multi-color felt dodecahedron pincushion. I will try again.
5. Redecorated the bedroom, I did, and it looks very modern harem. I used a Moroccan-like pattern in cool blues and greens, just right for the hot weather ahead. And the bathroom had mini-makeover as well.

A is For Apron

I bought myself a couple of books from Joggles lately. Most were on sale like this one, A Is For Apron by Nathalie Mornu.

There are 25 projects and six extras. The Lemon Meringue apron is to die for. So cute! And the Josephine is really lovely too. Also there are a few smaller aprons for the little ones.

The book covers the history of the apron and a gallery of vintage, and basic sewing to get you started.

I happened by Joggles to score some felt, but they have tons of craft books. I'll probably review them all this month because they encompass my recent artsy crafty endeavours.

It's funny to think how when I was growing up, the last thing in the world a young woman wanted was to be seen in an apron. We were striking out in the working world in our manly power suits demanding equal pay and no glass ceilings.

And now young women are making piles of money developing a trend to sew and sell aprons and other handmade items. Good for them, I say.

Speaking of making money, well credit really, if you go to Joggles via the button under "Si's Buddies" and purchase something, then I get 25% credit of your total purchase (not sales tax or shipping) that will be applied to next time I need some ribbon or a fabric fix. One time deal for each person.

I've never done this kind of affiliate-type program, so we'll see how it works. Also Joggles is having a 12% off sale on everything until May 15. Enter the code MOM2010 (uppercase, no spaces). Look around. It's a neat store.

Whetstone Box

I'm not saying I'm the only one, but I bet we are a small club. Of people who can get excited by a box.

It's clear I am recently enamored with bento boxes, but an old wood box?

Treasure!

Look! It has pedestal feet! And double sides! And all that writing! I wonder what it says.

It measures 14 1/2 by 10 inches and it's 6 1/2 inches deep.

What do you suppose I should do with it?

Origami Earrings by Sheri Chen

I purchased these charming earrings from allmydreams on Etsy the other day. They hang down about 2 1/2 inches and are absolutely adorable. I met the artist through my bento excursion of late and became re-acquainted with the now huge Etsy shop. Sheri was recently highlighted in a New York Times article for her beautiful bento box art that she makes for her family. She also makes really cute baby and toddler clothes, and you know, Christmas is just around the corner.

Day Nine: Making Progress

I'm not sure what my mother would think. I have re-purposed various items of hers when she was alive, and she seemed fine with it, so I would like to imagine she would have no problem with what I'm doing now.

What I'm doing is cutting up her puff quilt and using the fabric to make two of my three quilt projects, the postage stamp and the hexagon. 

My feeling is that my mother didn't like the quilt very much in the end. It was a memory quilt. She was trying to reduce her fabric stash, so each puff was made from some fabric leftover from some garment or project that she made. Each puff was like a little pillow stuffed with pillow stuffing. Sorry to get all technical on you.

She made it for my parent's bed, a king size, so the thing is huge, and as I rip it apart, I'm noticing that her sewing machine had tension problems, and I just know that bugged her royally. But she didn't rip it out and do it over. She was done with it. Just get'er done. I can still see that determined look in her eyes. Just get the damn thing done!

Thirty years later my brother brings it to me. It smells like 30 years of garage dust. All the puffs are probably full of dust mites. The thought of this makes me choke a bit and my stomach kind of flips too.

  

So the game plan is cut the quilt apart, throw away the stuffing, wash the fabric, iron the fabric, and cut out hexes and squares. The execution is slow and I'm finding using scissors painful, so I may have to switch to a knife.

  

So here at Day Nine I am making progress and I'm enjoying meeting up with the memories of some of the fabrics. 

  

As far as the manly quilt goes, well that's an entirely different story.

Things I Like

1. Double rainbows

2. Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
3. Fun New Projects
4. Sleeping In (till 9:07am)
5. Rosso Di Montalcino

Planning Future Projects

I woke at dawn and watched the clouds hang heavy. It rained last night, but I didn’t realize it was going to be a horizontal rain. So in the midst of watching the HBO miniseries John Adams I said to the mister, “My pumpkins! My corn! It looks like the top of the gazebo is going to shred in the wind!” I can be sooo dramatic sometimes. :)
He replied calm as usual. ”Well put the show on pause and let’s see what we can do.”
So we ran out there and bustled back and forth from patio to garage bringing in the pumpkins and corn as the wind whipped up the rain. He took off the gazebo cover and dragged into the garage, threw it over a step ladder. And we sighed and went back to the signing of the Declaration. Whew!

Last night too was the time to return to regular time. On to winter, I suppose. I love cloudy rainy weather. It puts me a creative hunkered-down mood. This morning I came up with three (more) projects. The first I will chronicle on my other blog. It has to do with propagating blue oaks to revitalize this area. The second project will be to recreate the Wizard of Oz characters as Christmas tree ornaments. And the third is to separate the husks from the corn and make corn husk angels tree ornaments. I guess I have a little Christmas on the brain.

Also currently in the mix are lounge lizard pajama bottoms in flannel. I will definitely take some photos of them when they are done as they are made out of some darling fabric.

Mom's Stash

When my brother said he found some of Mom's stuff and asked me if I wanted it, I said sure. At least I wanted to see what it was. He brought me a box or two every couple of months as he was helping my dad clean out the garage. Finally I reached saturation point and just stored the boxes unopened in the back bedroom of the old ranch house. 

  

Now that I've moved to the new ranch house, I've finally been getting around to emptying boxes and sorted through stuff. And guess what? I found my mother's stash of patterns! This is so cool and it isn't just garments. There are doll patterns and a variety of other goodies. 

I might have to make a toaster cover.

A Few New Favorites

I've added two new favorites, Joana in Portugal and Ellen in Ireland, to the ever growing list on your right. Both have Etsy shops too. 

  

Etsy is a fun place to look around and without spending a fortune (unless you want to, that is), you can find neat handmade gifts, lovely photos, charming vintage and more. And yes! I have an Etsy shop too. But there isn't anything in it - yet.

Happy Autumn to all!

This Is...My Favorite Hobby Shop

This place doesn't have fabric, but there is a Beverly's and Betty's nearby. Honestly Law's is absolutely FAB! When the owners were going to retire, they offered up the store to their employees! You know, a co-op ownership. Is that cool, or what? And of course, the people that work there are some of the cutting edge around these parts. And they have hand-outs to teach you how to make things for free. I'm sure that's good for business, but still here in America where every - little - thing has a price tag. 

  

I must say I also very much like The Artery and the quilt shop next to the sweet shoppe in the park. 

  

I really get lost in Michaels in such a good way. Some people have their vice. I embace mine. 

  

Craft/Fabric/Hobby Shops!!

Thanks to Three Buttons (the host) and the theme-maiden, Handmaiden.

Go here to see everyone's fav!

Shadow Box circa 1975

About 33 years ago my bestfriend gave this to me. Shadow boxing was all the rage in the crafting world, and we were into making things. When I look at it now, it is like a time capsule. The black and white picture of the car was my crush's Fiat. The car club her brothers had going was called System. Although I don't remember liking beer, I think all her brothers drank Coors and Pepsi. I liked RC cola. But I did like sunflower seeds, and we used to sneak Kent cigarettes. Also the CAR drawing above the B&W car was in reference to the acronym of our secret club.

  

I ended up dating this crush for few years. My bestfriend and I had a falling out a few years later too. But for some reason, I kept this old thing. You should seen the dirt I wiped off before taking this picture. 

  

Now I know it isn't my archive and had I made it, I might not be proposing what I'm proposing to do. But I feel like disassembling the whole thing and making a new shadow box of old doodads and nicknacks that I have laying around. 

  

I wonder if I'll have any regrets.

Little Books

I saw this craft on How About Orange's site. So cute! I made little books with about three blank pages in the middle (folded over you have six sheets or 12 pages).  On the outside Jess (from How About Orange) laminated pretty paper. I waited for pretty paper to come to me and it didn't. So when the library was discarding a children's picture book with all of these farm animals, I snatched it up. Picture book paper is thicker than typing paper. I didn't laminate.

I love my paper cutter that I bought many years ago. Reminds me of 4th grade. It just comes in handy all the time making bookmarks and such.

Anyways it took me about an hour to make a dozen little books. They will be good stocking stuffers, I think. And one for the glove box. And one for the purse. And one for next to the computer. And one for next to the chair just to jot down a little thought in a little book.