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!

Project Noah: Week 4 - Rice

Hey! Did any body know to day is Wednesday? Well, heck I thought yesterday was Monday -all day long and so today's Tuesday Tutorial is a day late! (ding! that would be the light going on in my head)

Week 4: 10 pounds Rice. (considering the situation this year in India...not a bad idea, this food storage)

Hint: Check that you have sufficient clothing (that fits) for one year (or fabric and necessities for sewing clothing).

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!

Before

yikes. This is what I have been up to the past week. Seems #5 needed some changes in her life. Part of those changes meant dealing with a less than responsive (or responsible for that matter) landlord and manager for the small BY-U approved housing. Took a bit of doing but I think we are making some head way.

Then there was the matter of the condition of the interiors. Not being allowed to paint over the dead flat bright hospital white walls that have been neglected (for several years by the look of them), we opted for the things we could change.

This first photo is of the front door as you face the street. Note that the t.v. is placed on a dresser. Normally I would think, "O.k. clever. We can use the dresser as extra storage and as a t.v stand." Alas, no. This dresser has been held together by unknown forces for far too long! The drawer fronts actually just balance on their frames, one small move and the whole front falls off! (The collection of odds and ends on the floor were my fault...thrift store bargains, more on them later)

This second photo shows the lovely thin to thread bare curtains, broken windows that cannot be secured and are directly in line with the drive way and walk way access to the back house. Neighbors, the mailman, and any visitors have a direct view into the house at any time of the day! How convenient! It also shows the best of the two couches, this one actually a love seat with holes in the seats, thus the yellow sheet, which as most throws or slip covers has a tendency to shift during use. Note the small foot stool. There are two of these, I think they are cast offs from a glider rocker, as they both glide. The good thing is they are surprisingly comfortable, the height is good and the cushion is bearable. Behind the love seat are two book cases. The one on the right holds two of the girls' dvd collections and on the base shelf, one gal's nursing books. The other shelf on the left houses #5's books, well some of her books. That book case it also very wobbly and whenever you remove a book the entire shelf lists one way or the other and you need to steady it, lest it collapse in a heap. There is a "Medusa" lamp, which the girls bought together because there was no lighting in the house prior to the purchase. They didn't really like it, but for $20.00 it was a deal. In the left corner, not shown, is another bookcase #5 brought with her, also filled to the brim with her books; and a hanging wind chime that belongs to her roommate... the one thing said roommate insisted stay exactly where it is, all else we could do what we would.

The third photo shows what I dubbed the SLC Airport couch. It had a very firm (read hard) and very shallow seat and all it was lacking was baggage claim and/or the pleather roping to guide you to your terminal. That was our beginning.

The last photo is one final look at the love seat for later comparison. We decided something had to be done about the seating in this house. No one ever sat on the Airport couch because of it's complete lack of comfort, so the girls dismantled it and stored it inside a hall closet.

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!"

all I wanted was to make a baby dress

Have you purchased a sewing machine lately?

As a new bride my mother decided I needed my own sewing machine. She scrounged around and found an Italian brand machine. A Bertinelli, ever heard of it? Nah, neither had I, or any of the repair shops I took it to. It was about 20 years old, but had been reconditioned and was about 88 pounds of sea foam green hardware. The motor sounded much like Mussolini's tank invading France, and it left destruction in it's wake the majority of the time. I look back on that machine as the tool that taught me to swear.

Time went by and we decided to take up with the allies and remove Italian machines from our home. We searched out what my mother and other's had said were good brands, Bernina, Pfaff, Viking...hey Viking, they sound like they could take on any sewing chore and do very well. After doing much research we decided that a Nordic made machine would be great, however the Euro had not yet been created, the iron curtain was still hung, and no matter how we thought it out, we could not afford a "good" machine. We went with a Singer. Yikes. It was a higher education to be sure:

Singer Sewing/Swearing 202. The Sewing/Swearing Technology program provides students with the technical and practical training necessary for work as a seamstress or sailor in a variety of settings, including homes, church, and/or but not limited to submarines, along side drunken sailors, long shore-man or bartenders frequented by the above. Students will examine the sewing machine (over and over and over), material becoming ground up into the feed dogs, thread entanglement and breakage, bobbin tension malfunctions, the use of scissors to extract clothing from the machine and seam ripping on all articles made.

Courses are not necessarily offered in the sequences in which they appear in the catalog. Oh no no no! Students will be thrown for a loop every time they begin to sew! No two projects will ever be the same and multiple application in regard to the same pattern will also turn out different as the machine is possessed by Satan.

Prerequisites for this course are previous work on a Bertinelli Machine, serving 2 years with the merchant marines, or surviving a coup d’état. Testing out is possible if you can go two rounds with...with... heck, my mom! (sorry mom, but yeah, I learned a lot at home!)

30 years have gone by and it's time to buy a new machine. The kids are (relatively) out of the house, we can eat food storage for a month, and save to buy a new (cherubic choruses singing) machine of Nordic heritage!

I thought. Have you seen the price of a new machine? The first store I went into we had to call in paramedics. The sales gal asked me what my budget was. I know I was going to shoot low, I mean really, I know I can't afford even a mid range machine, but all I need is a low end model, so I say (somewhat proudly) $350.00! The poor woman fell over backwards and knocked herself unconscious on a bolt of heavy duty denim.

After the medics took her off, her second came in and politely told me, trying very hard not to laugh, that the LOWEST price machine they sold was $500.00. She could show me a "craft" sewing machine, they come in a cardboard box, third shelf in the scrapbook isle. (swearing is coming back to me) "O.k. well show me what you do have in the bottom of the barrel category. It's been a while."

She takes me over to a "...really nice little machine that has been used as an upgrade. The owner bought it knowing they would return it within 90 days as a trade in... (WAIT! Did she just say "trade in"? as in "I want to trade in my station wagon for a minivan."?) ...so it has only 3 months usage! It retails for $5,000.00 but we are putting out for $1,500.00!" Holy cow, I am dead freaking meat.

When I gasp, she senses my surprise and informs me that to get a "really good quality machine I need to invest, not just buy." I am SO in trouble. She walks me over to -if it were a surf board- would be a long board. "This (she pauses for dramatic effect, arm pointing to the beast) is the Turbo-tastic computerized embroidery/quilting 350! It retails for (please sit down if you aren't already) $25,000.00." (and yes, I am exaggerating a lot in this post, but this price? um, no. THAT WAS THE ACTUAL PRICE!) She waits for a response. I am, frankly, hoping those paramedics haven't left the parking lot because I am feeling my left arm go numb. "You see, you need to invest!" She waits again for me to say something, anything, but I am still trying to get the elephant off my chest. "You can purchase a car, or a sewing machine...." Her voice kind of fades and gets echo-y and at that the room kind of swirls around and begins to turn black.

I woke up (in a cold sweat) with her standing over my (presumably dead) body. "S'mee? S'mee? Oh perhaps I have overwhelmed you. (ya think?) Oh dear, (she begins to giggle) you were serious about wanting a bottom of the line!" She walks me over to a rolling chair and sets me down to look at what she has never touched. Seriously, it had cobwebs between it and the other 3 machines on that desk. There were cobwebs and I think I heard eerie organ music in the background, it was a dark and scary place, the kind of place you just know something bad is going to happen.

"This (she is suddenly channeling Ben Stine) is the WhyBotherSewingAtAll 200. It sews. This model here (moving over one machine) is the Sure,IfYouWantEveryoneToLaughYouOutOf TheSewingGuild 180, it also sews, but it has reverse too. It starts at $550.00, but it's on sale, today until (what time is it now? 12:35) 1:00 for $399.00. This next one, the I'mSoEmbarrassedToEvenBeSittingByIt 450xl3 is also on sale, regularly $800.00, for $499.00. It sews, go backwards, and also makes zigzag stitches. (she begins this speech with those soothing, melodic tones one uses while trying to coax someone off a ledge) Now you see S'mee? Do you see why you need to invest? Why these machines here, well they just sew a straight stitch, maybe a button hole, but those over there, well, all you have to do is throw folded material at the machine and (in a strict German accent) command them to "make a toddler dress, size 4!"- and it's done! No cutting, no sitting at the machine, just done!"

I go through this process with four other sewing centers. Ladies and gentlemen, I have some career advise: Forget being an astronaut. Put down that dream of being a brain surgeon. Don't even think about being a rock star. The real money on this planet is in sewing machines!

I am still in the market for a machine I can afford. (please, for the love of Pete, stop laughing!) I have a few more places to explore before I finally commit to just killing myself. I'll let you know how it goes. Mussolini? Hitler? heck, if they knew how to do it right they would have just forced their enemies to try and buy a sewing machine.

underwear that's fun to wear!

That's our motto here at GrammaGear! Yes, I have been at it again. Lil Bit and her family are headed to a family reunion, and here's the rub:

They live in SoCAL and the reunion is in central Idaho!

Imagine the drive with a 5 year old, a 2 year old and a 2 month old! Yikes.

Last week I had Sparky in his car seat for 45 minutes and I thought I was going to slow baste the poor child! I had the air pointed directly on him, but he still was so over heated he drenched his tiny little onesie and his little fuzzy head was bright pink with a fauxhawk!

I got to thinking about Lil Bit. So I got myself some onesies in her size and decorated them up. This way Mommy can keep her in 'unders', she can stay a tad cooler, and when they need to stop (what, like a billion times) she'll still look somewhat presentable.

The first one is lavender, ruffles on the sleeve and bum. The second one has kiwi green 'eyelash' yarn crocheted into the neckline, sleeves and bum ruffles. A little cotton ruffled skirt can be popped on quickly for lunch at McDonald's or wherever. The last one has a crochet pink lace around the collar with little beads and a very masculine skirt. 3 sets of sparkling organza with one layer of tulle. All three 'unders' come with matching sockies and head bows.

You can click on the photos for a larger view.