I have been having so much fun this week! I am making a pantry full of felt food! That's the gift i'm giving my friend's daughter for her birthday. I know, I said I wouldn't write about it to keep the surprise, but I needed to know some of K's favorite foods. And I figured, if she doesn't see what's being made, it's not such a big loss of surprise, is it? So, no pictures to post, no details to write about, just the knowledge that I am enjoying my food without having to see it end up on my hips!
P.S. When making felt food, it is ALWAYS easier to use the tutorials and printable patterns that are out there, rather than try to wing it on your own! I started with doughnuts, thought I knew what I was doing, and it took me three hours to complete 1 doughnut! Without icing!! Now, I've seen the pattern and tutorial and feel like smacking myself on the forehead! Such a dingbat!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Charleston Weekend
Oh my gosh! Has it seriously been two whole weeks since I posted last? Wow, the time flies. This is why I need to blog. It keeps me current, and accountable for the projects I've been working on. When I'm not writing about what I'nm working on, I tend to begin multiple projects that don't quite get finished. Boo. 
See? This was all started two weekends ago. But I'm only halfway finished with these baby blankets, bibs, and maternity jeans for a friend. The fabric in the middle, the green with vines and browns, that was for a skirt, which I did finish, but not in time to get a pic posted to the flickr account to enter it into the contest I was going to try to enter. And, now, I'm not sure where the pic of the skirt went. I may have to retake the pic so I can show you how cute it turned out. Lightweight, breezy, perfect for a wedding on the beaches of Charleston, South Carolina.
The ceremony was at 7pm, and the temperature was perfect by then. Heat index was registering over 100 degrees all week, but that time of day, it felt like less than 90. Beautiful. A very simple ceremony, the random beach-goers applauded as the bride processed down the aisle with her dad and 4 year old son, and of course, I left the beach with raccoon eyes. It was so sweet, and all I could think about was standing in a similar ceremony less than 10 months ago, making the same vows. PS, someone needs to make wedding proof mascara. I have yet to find any.
Look how sweet we are.
So, now I return to making toys for the kids to play with. But, since I don't get the 3 year old as much now that it's summer, I'm only going to make a few,but I'm going to make a set for a friend's little girl who turns 2 next week. I will post pics once I have wrapped and delievered the gift, though, so as to preserve the surprise.
Happy crafting!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Weekend's Work
I will never again go to Hobby Lobby on a Friday night! I was in the store by about 6:30, and selected several flannels to use to make some baby gifts for upcoming baby showers. I will admit to causing some of the craziness, as I had 6 bolts of fabric to be cut, but the women in front of me....they were the majority of the problem.
With all cottons and fleece on sale, the woman who was having her fabric cut when I got in line had more than 10 bolts, and was having anywhere from 1-4 yards cut of each. Her grandchild wasannoying entertaining us with four-year old antics and begging for fuzzy materials for himself. Before she had all of her fabrics cut and recorded for check-out, another shopper came behind me. There is only one associate working the fabric counter.
The next customer has at least 10 bolts on the table, but she keeps leaving the table to pick out more fabric, which is understandable in light of the sale, but in any other situation, this would usually result in loss of place in line. Why is it that in some fabric stores this is acceptable, and in others it is unheard of? She begins to rattle off the measurements she needs, and it soon becomes apparent that we will be standing for quite a while. She is getting 2 or more yards of each fabric. Asking for the entire bolt. Changing her mind. A new customer steps in line.
Finally, the harried sales associate calls for assistance. Of course, after having cut more than 20 bolts of fabric in the last 30 minutes non-stop, there is a pile of fabric on the second cutting table. Several of us in line help the new girl move fabric around, place it in shopping carts, and in general clean-off an area for her to begin cutting. At this point, the customer in front of me is down to her last bolt, so I tell the customers behind me to go ahead to the second associate, since I won't have to wait too much longer, and I also have a stack of fabric. I only needed 1 yard of each, but all the same, I was trying to be nice.
At this point, the speakers turn on with the announcement that Hobby Lobby will be closing in 15 minutes. Yes, it's 7:45! (HL closes at 8 in case you are unfamiliar) The sales clerk and I are discussing the plans for my fabrics, and suddenly I remember another fabric I need. Now I am the annoying person running from the table to grab another bolt. I needed black felt, and more than just the small 8x11 squares you can get 4 for $1. My plan is to make a durable car playmat for 'Tude, since I was able to get a yard of green felt at my Wal-Mart when they decided to clearance fabric and give in to the crappy kits two weeks ago. I left Hobby Lobby at 7:55. More than an hour for 6 1/4 yards of fabric, that only took me 15 minutes to select.
Apparently, everyone comes to the Lobby on Friday night to partake in the sales for their weekend projects! So rather than just buying a few yards, they go absolutely crazy! The poor sales associate was talking about how she hadn't even begun to recover her section, and if she was responsible for straightening the entire fabric department by herself, whoo! She's going to be there for hours! By the time we all left, she must have had 40-ish fabric bolts on the table to return, a cartful of remnants to package and price, not to mention the basic clean-up.
But, I did get several projects started, which I was going to complete last night, as well as make gingersnap cookies with fresh-made candied ginger. However, it seems that Murphy has moved into my spare room. If it can happen, it will. Our downstairs renter volunteered his dad to help us set up the wireless network, since that's his speciality. But what should have been a quick set up took 2 1/2 hours! We are now wireless, but I got nothing done, because I had to sit with them, sewing machine in the other room, keeping Pepe out of their hair and computers! Hopefully the rest of the week won't be the same.
With all cottons and fleece on sale, the woman who was having her fabric cut when I got in line had more than 10 bolts, and was having anywhere from 1-4 yards cut of each. Her grandchild was
The next customer has at least 10 bolts on the table, but she keeps leaving the table to pick out more fabric, which is understandable in light of the sale, but in any other situation, this would usually result in loss of place in line. Why is it that in some fabric stores this is acceptable, and in others it is unheard of? She begins to rattle off the measurements she needs, and it soon becomes apparent that we will be standing for quite a while. She is getting 2 or more yards of each fabric. Asking for the entire bolt. Changing her mind. A new customer steps in line.
Finally, the harried sales associate calls for assistance. Of course, after having cut more than 20 bolts of fabric in the last 30 minutes non-stop, there is a pile of fabric on the second cutting table. Several of us in line help the new girl move fabric around, place it in shopping carts, and in general clean-off an area for her to begin cutting. At this point, the customer in front of me is down to her last bolt, so I tell the customers behind me to go ahead to the second associate, since I won't have to wait too much longer, and I also have a stack of fabric. I only needed 1 yard of each, but all the same, I was trying to be nice.
At this point, the speakers turn on with the announcement that Hobby Lobby will be closing in 15 minutes. Yes, it's 7:45! (HL closes at 8 in case you are unfamiliar) The sales clerk and I are discussing the plans for my fabrics, and suddenly I remember another fabric I need. Now I am the annoying person running from the table to grab another bolt. I needed black felt, and more than just the small 8x11 squares you can get 4 for $1. My plan is to make a durable car playmat for 'Tude, since I was able to get a yard of green felt at my Wal-Mart when they decided to clearance fabric and give in to the crappy kits two weeks ago. I left Hobby Lobby at 7:55. More than an hour for 6 1/4 yards of fabric, that only took me 15 minutes to select.
Apparently, everyone comes to the Lobby on Friday night to partake in the sales for their weekend projects! So rather than just buying a few yards, they go absolutely crazy! The poor sales associate was talking about how she hadn't even begun to recover her section, and if she was responsible for straightening the entire fabric department by herself, whoo! She's going to be there for hours! By the time we all left, she must have had 40-ish fabric bolts on the table to return, a cartful of remnants to package and price, not to mention the basic clean-up.
But, I did get several projects started, which I was going to complete last night, as well as make gingersnap cookies with fresh-made candied ginger. However, it seems that Murphy has moved into my spare room. If it can happen, it will. Our downstairs renter volunteered his dad to help us set up the wireless network, since that's his speciality. But what should have been a quick set up took 2 1/2 hours! We are now wireless, but I got nothing done, because I had to sit with them, sewing machine in the other room, keeping Pepe out of their hair and computers! Hopefully the rest of the week won't be the same.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
June UFO Challenge
The June number has been released! And once again, it is just what I wanted to be working on (so much so that I was going to go renegade and swap my numbers around if it wasn't!) The chosen project number is #9!!! My Teapot Quilt, the very first quilt I ever made. 
Now for those of you who remember that wasn't originally the project, very good! Yes, it's true. But remember, I promised dh I would finish two (2) quilts before I bought the supplies to begin another quilt. And now my bf is pregnant, and I want to make her a quilt. The Teapot quilt is actually almost finished, so I can definitely finish it this month, then go back to working on the 4th of July quilt. And when I finish it, I can go shopping!!!
Now for those of you who remember that wasn't originally the project, very good! Yes, it's true. But remember, I promised dh I would finish two (2) quilts before I bought the supplies to begin another quilt. And now my bf is pregnant, and I want to make her a quilt. The Teapot quilt is actually almost finished, so I can definitely finish it this month, then go back to working on the 4th of July quilt. And when I finish it, I can go shopping!!!
The other reason I was going to swap my numbers around is because I took my car into the shop a few weeks ago, and had to spend over $1,000 to get her fixed. Ouch! So I needed a project I could finish without having to buy any supplies for. Okay, I bought marking pencils, but that doesn't really count, because those are necessary for the quilting process! (which, by the way, the best quilt marking pencils out there are Roxanne's Quilter's Choice) I think the original plan with this quilt was to use the remaining yardage to make bias binding, so I have all I need. Except for a border hoop. Which I really would like, but think I have come up with a way to make it work with my regular hoop.
On another note, with the mini-storm we had last night, we now have fried outlets. Over half of the outlets in the house do not work, even after searching out all three (yes, 3) breaker boxes in the house. We have flipped every circuit, tried to match them all up to lights and outlets in the house, and failed miserably. Less than 1/3 of them were labeled to begin with, and as I flipped them, we discovered that 1 in 4 were mislabeled. Imagine that. And we never did figure out which ones were to the outlets that are dead, probably because it's not a circuit breaker issue, but a wiring issue (did I mention this house was built in 1940 and has "crazy" wiring all over?) There are places where you can see new, grounded outlets have been installed, but that doesn't necessarily mean the wiring was updated. So, who knows what's really going on behind the walls! Ergh! At least it's not all outlets, and at least the computer was plugged into a different set of outlets. And now I'm beginning to wonder about our surge protectors.........This probably means they're shot too.
ARGHHHHHHH!!!!
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