Earth Day -sort of, and kind of late.

Thor had a business conference in D.C. last week, which meant I got to travel with him, and travel I did! The day we landed we went straight to the hotel and died! Such a long day! The following morning I got up and headed down to Durham to visit The Scholar!

It was an interesting drive to say the least (another post on that experience!). After 4 hours on the road I finally met up with her and we began to visit while she toured me around Duke, and of course, Durham (which is a fascinating place!).

As the day drew on we needed to stop a few places to pick up items we needed and I discovered that back east (at least D.C. and North Carolina) they charge 5 cents per bag they issue after your purchase. It was fun to watch The Scholar pile up her purchases in her arms and carry them out to the car. (Unexpected trip to the store mean she didn't have her bags with her at the time.) Granted they were few and a bag really wasn't that much of a help, but still, I loved it! (My inner hippy chick was so pleased to see that the hippy gene was trickling down the family tree.) Inside I kept thinking about the different bags I had at home, ready to pack away my groceries, I even have several to take with me for traveling...but with certain restrictions put on my suitcase this trip, I left all non essentials at home.

I made that trip from D.C. to Durham and back to D.C. twice! Then I also drove out to Rehoboth Beach (Delaware) so I could see the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Let's just say, I drove a lot, and every where I drove, they wanted a nickle for a sack! Good for them. I think if CA. charged for a sack we'd all figure out a way to remember to bring all those linen bags we have at home. "Save a fish or kill a tree?" Just bring your own bag.

Well, I decided that I would make a huge, gynormo purse that I could use as both carry on luggage (if need be) and also haul a good grocery bundle or Target run without having to look as if I was using store branded or company logo totes.

I found a piece of Hawaiian print bark cloth (my weakness) for .99! I also found gorgeous green dotted material that grabbed my eyes about two years ago (I have been pining a long time) which was on clearance for $2.00 yd., and lastly some pleather on sale for $3.00. After my $4.50 (total) purchase I went to work without a pattern.

8"wx27"lx16"d with a 40" twisted strap so that I can carry it over my shoulder or over my body - hands free, which is nice if I need my hands for other things. I put in 12 grommets and made a pull string to open and close the top. A small leaf button helps slide the string closed and kept in place or slide open. A few more buttons on the bottom of the strings to keep them from slipping all the way through the top, and I was done.

The result is a huge tote, and I love it. I think it will work out well for me. Large enough to carry a large laptop and probably and additional watermelon! Plus, it's reversible!

Happy New Year!

I've never been much for the whole New Year's resolution tradition, too much public risk and disappointment, which is weird because basically I am a pretty open book, but there you go. I guess it's kind of like breaking a promise to myself or something... don't wanna do that!

However. Things and circumstance always change and change is always good. So in light of the newfangled year and all it brings, here's a bit of a 'to do' list if you will:

Remove the furnishings, carpeting and all, from the "girls" room. Then do the same with the "studio" (heretofore the "boys" room).

Put down commercial grade Berber in both rooms, add new floor moldings.

In the new "guest room" add: a queen sized bed, the "family" dresser, and hang some photos. All this to make access to the bathroom easier and more convenient for guests, and to make a nice place for little people to play and nap closer to mom, dad, and or grandparents.

In the studio: Paint the closet doors chocolate brown. Configure the best way to align solid shelving along one wall, leave enough space for the gynormo (yet fabulous) business desk (soon to be an artist's desk!). Rehang the paper stack and glass shelves and generally make the room back in to a studio.

Put the food storage in the guest closet - finally.

Hang blinds in the front room.

Make a cornice box for the front room window.

Add bark cloth faux drapes to the inside of the cornice box.

Find and purchase a 5x7 rug for the front room.

Hang stuff (to be determined later) on the front room walls.

Rehang the wall arrangement in the hallway.

Repaint the master bedroom.

Repaint the two dressers and two side chests in the master bedroom and add grass cloth inserts, decide if I need/want a headboard of same after seeing the finished furniture.

Paint. Paint on canvas. One painting (at least) per month.

Clear out the "shed" and reorganize the boxes out there. Learn E-Bay and/or garage sale the items and begin to de-clutter on a huge scale.

Use up the crafting materials I have on hand.

Make specific items for sale in two major city open air markets, summer, fall, and winter. Meaning I will have a schedule for assembly line type of crafting to build up product.

Learn loom knitting, which seems pretty easy from what I can tell so far.

Take at least ten photos per day in an effort to become a better photographer.

With Thor, empty out the garage of clutter and sell off what we haven't used in years. Organize it so that more space can be used for the gym equipment we already have.

As far as personal goals are concerned, they will remain personal. However some old habits will be renewed and some forgotten. Continue to work on self reliance and emergency preparedness, adding to and rotating what we already have.

I'll let you know how well the other goals come along and hopefully post some photos as the projects progress.

So Happy New Year everyone! I hope all your goals and resolutions are fun and fulfilled!

adventures in sewing!

The previous green curtains were atrocious! We found a discount fabric store and searched for bargains. We found too many fabrics we wanted but let the budget make the final decision.

For $3.oo a yard, #5 loved this crinkly semi sheer, at 52 wide, it was a deal and a half! We decided that if we placed the fabric on the horizon rather than it's intended vertical we could get away with about 1/3 the fabric! Too add length and interest she picked out another piece of lightweight, but darker and with a bit of texture fabric at $4.99 per yard. One yard was all we needed. The base fabric is a deep brown with black circles randomly placed all over...really cool!

She wanted to tie the curtains up with pearls, chains, ribbons and whatever else she could find, so I added button holes to the top. Clipped to the cafe rings and between she and the best friend they looked so much better than what she had before. Also, even with the semi sheer weight, they are opaque enough to provide much needed privacy from the neighbors!

Just a reminder of the loveliness that was their love seat! E-gads! We shopped Craigs list and couldn't find a sofa any cleaner or the appropriate size...well actually we did, but the $50.00 they wanted for it was ridiculous! We found a second sofa, but it was in another city, weighed about 345 lbs. and in addition to the $15.00 price tag they wanted another $20.00 for delivery. um no.

So while we were at the fabric store we found a mushroom gray upholstery fabric for (get this!) $2.00 a yard! For $20, we had a nearly new piece of furniture! Can you believe it's the same couch? The small rug was a miracle find at $10.00 and with the exact mushroom, brown and beige we needed! Whoo hoo!
So there you have it. The 5 day transformation!

Whatever You Want - part deux

If you read this post a week or so ago, you know how frustrated I was with trying to find a new sewing machine. E-freaking-gads.

Well I exhausted all my resources, made enemies out of long time friends, distanced relatives and basically drove my husband to drink (mom prophesied he smoke some day, I suppose drinking is just as bad, oh well.). So Thor has been hitting the rootbeer floats pretty hard lately. He says it's from his work, but I think there's residual stress from having to listen to me vent for two months.

One thing we have learned from all this is that whatever you want in life will take twice as much as you expect it to. When you're a kid you think "Hooray! I'll graduate from high school and then it will be over!" Until you realize that you still need an additional 4-6 years of formal education; and then there are those "required" continuing educational classes or seminars that one must attend if they expect any kind of increase in earnings. Mothers are another good case for this. They think "Sure, it's going to be nine months of agony, but then the baby will come and things can never be as bad as that pregnancy." Well until you realize that your body just stores up all that it put on hold for nine months, and lets you deal with it as you feed another person from your own physical resources. Don't get me started on potty training or getting rid of that sippy cup.

Thor and I went to Utah. Along the way we saw a really nice little boat. Thor said, "That's a really nice little boat!" It only cost $600.00 but we were both sure that it would be the perfect size for a vacation on a lake with a couple of the kids, or for them to borrow a family at a time. The trouble is, everything is always twice as much as you expect. $600.00 for the boat, and a trailer to haul it around in would be at least another $600.00. 1,200 reasons why Thor and I do not have a boat.

We drove down the road a way and saw a canoe! A really nice canoe for only $300.00! I said, "Hey, how 'bout a canoe? Only $300.00!" Thor looked at me and said, "Yes, but you'll need another $300.00 for a roof rack on the car; and do you see the flat back on the canoe? That's for a little outboard motor. Those don't come cheap either. With fishing licenses for everyone, bait, rods, reels, tackle boxes, renting a cabin at the lake and food for a week, etc. we're looking at more than the boat cost!"

It's the same with fast food. You get the dollar hamburger and they tack on another dollar for the soda. We're dead meat. All of us.

I finally ended up buying a sewing machine. I had originally decided that I had saved (well over) $350.00 and that would be my budget. In the end the dumb machine cost $745.00. Holy Toledo. I get the wonderment home and for the past two days reading the (War and Peace sized) manual has consumed my every minute. This new machine is computerized! Wahoo! To a point. Now the darned thing is smarted than I am.

Today I sat down to see if I could push all the right buttons and give the little lady a test run. I went to my scrap fabric. Hmm, silk, felt, heavy Teflon coated quilted fabric for a new ironing board cover, ummm, (dig dig dig) oh! um, (dig dig dig) no -can't use organza, tulle? nope. Stink! I have nothing but weirdo fabrics in my scrap bag! No worries, I'll grab ten bucks and head down to the store, I need a few other sewing things to get officially started.

I run down to the fabric store... I grab a half yard of plain cotton, 70% off (orange tag!), and then remember I need "special" bobbin thread, grab some of that, also, if I am going to test the embroidery, I will need "embroidery" thread, on sale -buy two get one, oh and the stiff backing stuff so that the fabric doesn't pucker, oooooo.k. Done. $25. and change.

St Petersburg! This is getting ridiculous! But there you have it, everything doubles!

All in all though, my happiness doubled as well. You see, for the first time -ever- I made button holes without cursing! I also (machine) embroidered the first try and the second try without any complications! Who knew this was possible? Raise of hands??? Yeah? Me neither! I wrote names and companies and titles and love notes and drove that fabric all over the place with stitches that looked like leaves and hearts and small tiny crocodiles -all without swearing!

It's a Festivus Miracle!

I (machine) smocked! I 'drew' a dish!
I blind hemmed, and made a fish!

I wrote monograms and "Mickey Mouse",
and 'his -n-hers' and "Welcome to our House!"

I'm giddy and hysterical!
I sat all day and played!

I puffed a little baby sleeve!
(for 750 paid!)

From now on I'll be sewing
so much they'll think I'm lost.

Baby clothes and backpacks,
equal to Prada's cost!

Between the price of fabric
and machine's (that do inspire),

I'm afraid I'll have to tell Thor:
"Sorry Babe, you can't retire!"

Mid Spring Table

If you know me, you know I love change. Every chance I get- I change the look of the table.

I (try to) keep the table dressed all day long and ready for meals. Some times it works, others, not so much. In reality, it's so much easier to just reset the table when I remove the dishes from the machine instead of having to put them in the cupboard. I'm lazy, but this time it pays off. It comes in waves. Lately, since about Christmas, I have been able to keep it up. There have been times in the past where it just sits, empty, or is stacked with all kinds of projects...that drives me nuts. So I try.

We have a fabric store in town that sells either over stocked or discontinued fabrics used strictly for home fashions, so I head there first. The first place I look is in their close out section where you can pick up a gorgeous fabric for as little as $2.00 per yard! We're talking fabric on rolls, at least 60 inches, most times wider. I made the table protector out of professional grade quilted fabric for $6.00, and I love it. My table is 3x5, so -usually- I only need 2 yards of fabric to make a generous cloth. I try to pick patterns that will compliment the house, but also bend to several different themes or dish sets. I think ahead and choose fabrics that can work for at least two seasons or events, most of the time they work several different ways. I like patterns* and geometrics*, and lately I have been in to textured fabrics. I also prefer cloth that doesn't say "Hi! I'm a table cloth!" I have cloth that has been used for drapes, sofas, outdoor furniture and who knows what! I but a test sample, write down the measurements to calculate shrinkage, wash it in HOT water with the same detergents I would use if someone spilled and if it comes out well, I go back and purchase it. Table clothes are easy, just measure, cut, hem- and you're done.

Now, although I have several choices when it comes to dish sets, if you have a set of plain white, or black (or any solid set) you can mix it up pretty easily. I collected dishes over the years, but my favourites always come back to the plain basics because they can morph into dozens of themes. Plus, a plain plate will show off the food better than darling flowers competing with the mashed potatoes. I let the table clothes and plate settings set the mood and the food be the star.

These photos are pretty lousy, but I have had these shell pepper and salt shakers for a couple of years so I thought I would build on them. I put a bunch of shells in a flower bowl, and added the deep blue glass over the white larger plates, using them as chargers. The cloth is chocolate with three shades of blue in small raised square dots. Tiny white shell rings for napkins and a (much too tall) tropical plant finish it.



*scroll to view table example.

Gramma Camp

As in a previous post, I explained that Mommy and Daddy are headed out of state for a family wedding with their newborn baby girl. Gramma (S'mee) gets to have the little boys! Hence, Gramma Camp!

Because we will be heading out on a few field trips, I thought it would be cool to have Gramma Camp 'uniforms'; and because I am a Gramma, I thought dinosaurs would be fun and appropriate! So, I drew up a design that would wrap around the base of the tee-shirt.

I then purchased iron on transfer paper for dark fabric (a must if you hope the design will show up on something other than very light or white fabric) and copied my design onto the transfer and printed it out on my home printer. According to the transfer I had, I didn't need to worry about reversing the design or lettering!

After that it was just carefully cutting the design and following the ironing instruction from the transfer package!

Now all I need to do is add some socks, sturdy shoes, and a couple of energy enhancing vitamins to keep up, and we're off!

(Gramma Camp begins the second week of April.)

she's come undone....

O.k. So I made a trip up to Utah just to get my daughter's dress measurements and to alter her dress so that it fit correctly. A misunderstanding between she and S'mee led to the dress not being altered at all. AT the wedding she was the gal in the size to large periwinkle number. But she looked "o.k." : l We both thought the other didn't want it altered. UGH! Anywho that dress and the other sister's dress both needed 3 inches taken off the three (yes folks -3!) layers of hems.

S'mee had #5 pin her dress in hopes of altering the mother of the groom dress.

Actually the alterations on my dress went better than I had expected. I got a pretty good fit from the marking's #5 made and after a couple of goes it was as good as it could get. O.k. So then I have #3 mark it for hemline. When I purchased the dress it was made for a nice tall Norwegian, or perhaps an exceptional Amazonian woman. Either way this dress had, not only a very long "line" but an actual train! Not as long as a bride would have, but a definite train about 8 to 12 inches. Measuring the front and finding my toes would have been an easy way to determine how much to take off, but with a train she would have to go all the way around and find the floor measurement. Grrr. But #3 did a great job.

Monday"

S'mee made the marks on all three dresses for hems, and went in search of the proper needle and a rolled hemming foot. "CLOSED MONDAYS" Ugh! I need to wait for Tuesday.

Tuesday:

SO I purchase what I need. All of the sudden everything in the world falls apart and by the time I get around to sewing, things are put off for one more day.

Wednesday:

I started with my dress and after hemming the inside fabric (very nicely, thank you) I began on the outer layer. NOt for the life of me could I get that fabric to work. I tried it all, all the tricks I could think of, tissue didn't even help. The machine wasn't "eating" the fabric it was just shredding it. I used "fray check". NOPE. Nada. Zip. So I resorted to a very ugly hem and called it a day. We needed to be YM/YW and I had run out o' time!

Thursday.

Not wanting to shred the three layers of the bridal party dresses I decided to have them hemmed by a professional. HEMMED BY A PROFESSIONAL? Yikes, how the mighty have fallen. Hemmed. Are you kidding me? But I was disparate and so, yes, I succumbed and found an alterations seamstress.

"$35.00 each dress you want hurry coast you more money."

Forget that! What is it with the $70.00 alterations lately? Egads. I find another option and this seamstress is only asking $15.00. Oh joy! Oh rapture! I drop off the dresses and tell the gal I will pick them up tomorrow at 3:30. (She needs all day to fit in our "rush" - but who cares at this point?) She closes at 4:00. No problem! Friday at 3:30, plenty of time and I am happy and grateful and stress free! YES!

Thursday night: Meet down at the church to begin decorating!