About that great start...

After being off to a great start, my finishes for August fell off.  We had 2 kids coming and going for a couple different events. Also the yard work needed a catch up.  Blah... I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all the house stuff that needs to be done.  DH says it doesn't NEED to be done, but things like trim and molding do simplify house work.  Sweeping is usually messier when one has the edge of the flooring to get the broom caught on.  And washing the window is tricky with exposed drywall.  It's all stupid little stuff, but it isn't getting done.  We are on year five, (FIVE!!!!) with a big hole in the rec room wall.  The reason? No one goes down there.  Except for EVERYONE.  It's where the tv is!!! So I've been puttering around trying to work on some these things, while also running the kids around and trying to work on my other projects.   Ok...deep breath.....

I started quilting S2's quilt, and was hoping to have it finished by now. Instead I wound up stripping paint off an old cabinet and prepping it for a new paint job.  I did finish two projects, thanks to their simplicity and portability. First was a scarf for D2.

She wanted it long and skinny. And with a lot of blue.  Thankfully, it finished off a few odds and ends of yarn for me.  After that was a shawl for me! YAY!

I'm not thrilled with it, since it's all scraps of acrylic yarn.  But I do love the colors and it'll keep me warm in the rec room we never use.  It's not quite as bright as the photo looks, the real colors are much more in natural/neutral color scheme. It also finished off some balls of yarn.

I also got the pincushion done for a friend.  She got a cute fabric that was from Western Washington Shop Hop a few years ago.  It has cute sayings all over it.  My favorite is "a clean house is a sign of a broken sewing machine."

She inherited some sewing notions from her MIL and Grandma to fill hers with.

School starts on Tuesday, Scouts the week after, and library club the week after.  We'll see what happens.

Great start for August!

After a few months of few to no finishes for OPAM, I might finally broken through that mental block.  This weekend, I finished 3 place mats and a pincushion.  I have a few projects lined up to finish, as well as some new small gift items I am finally getting around to.

Somewhere I didn't do the math for these. There are 6 of us in the family, and for some reason, I only made four.

The fourth one was finished months ago and is already put away with the Christmas decorations.  Maybe I ran out of fabric?  I don't remember.  And I have no idea what to do with it now, which is fine. I am pretty sure there some standard for crafter gifting involved here, LOL!

I have always wanted one of these, and I kept hoping DH would buy me one.  But after 10 years, I guess I just needed to make it myself.  Which is fine. But sometimes I don't want to DIY.  I know how to install a water heater too, but that doesn't mean I *want* to. So I grabbed a bunch of random novelty scraps, a used canning lid and sacrificed a rim and jar.  And giving up that jar and rim were kind of painful. I USE those. Fifty-two or more jars of jam every year.  Plus whatever else we decide to make. So he's buying me a case of the pretty green ones to use for canning to "make up."

Once we got the lid on, we realized this wasn't going to be usable for practical storage. DH gets those rims down tight.  So I stuffed it with my mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers old sewing notions.

The thread was so old it broke, the zipper didn't work easily, and the snaps were missing parts.  But I loved that they were "family pieces."  And they weigh the jar down enough that it doesn't tip when I'm sticking pins in.

This week, I have a few more UFO's I'm working on, as well as another Mason jar pincushion for a friend who sews.  But that's it for now.  I think. :)

Past the halfway point!

What a month!  Even though we cut back on the amount of camps the kids went to, it was still pretty crazy.  I got sick the first week, followed by a week of cubbie camp, followed by a week of VBS.  S1 had 2 trips in other parts of the state, so there was a bit of come and go on his part.  I did manage to accomplish a couple of finishes, but not as many as I had hoped. 

These first projects are more of the Halloween coasters I had made.

They are now officially all done!  All my favorite Halloween fabric scraps are used up and ready for some hot cider!  I haven't decided if the orange on black floral or the orange on white with bats is my all time favorite. 

Another OPAM finish is a felted yarn bowl, but the camera batteries died when I was taking photos.  So when I go grocery shopping, I'll grab some more.

Earlier this month, some friends had a yard sale.  T had some amazing stuff she was cleaning out, so I bought an old plaster fame.

Gold is not my color. With that said, I loved the style of the frame.

So I dug out some paint.  I painted it green, and then wiped it down to show some of the gold.

I actually finished with a light wash of a sparkly brown, but that photo isn't on the same memory card. ugh!

I haven't decided if it will be a pin board, or if I want to put wire in it for a memo board.  That is on my August list of stuff to finish.

We also cleaned out the hall closet.  We Z(by that I mean the hubby and kids) use as all-purpose stashing. D2 had bought a bag of scrap fabric at the local thrift shop to learn how to sew.

 She doesn't like sewing, so it got shoved the bottomless closet.  When we had found it, I put in the pile things NOT going back in.  S2 decided he wanted to make some money, so I paid him to sort it. 

And not just by fabric, he had to pin block sets together.  He learned what is needed for a 9-patch, he helped with deciding colors and made himself a couple dollars. 

And now I have my new leader & ender project.

These must be pretty old, as lots of the fabrics are blends instead of cotton.  Talking to an older quilter, I learned there was a time when 100% cotton was very hard to find, since synthetics were the economic and environmental future.  I think it'll make a great picnic blanket (or 2 or 3).

This week I am piecing some sewing accessory projects and getting ready for school to start. 

Summer is here, kids are home, and I am trying not to lose my mind already.  I decided to participate in the Moda Bakeshop Trifle-Dish-Sew-Along, which may have been a dumb decision on my part. Two days to piece each row?  Are they nuts?  I have a partially finished row, and some of the other fabrics picked out.  Part of my reason for doing it was to use up some scraps.  Which leads to a lot of extra work, since I don't buy pre-cuts. 

I did finish a couple of projcts over the last couple of weeks.  First were some Halloween coasters.

The one under the Coke bottle was finished back in February, and I still have 5 more to go.  But they will be ready for Halloween!

I also finished a project back for my wool knitting projects.

My cat LOVES wool yarn, and I have to very conscious about where I put them.  I had this fabric sitting for over 5 years!  I loved it too much to cut, so when I found these handles on sale, I thought perfect.  It is now holding 3 gorgeous balls of wool yarn for a felting project.  And the cat can smell it, but he can't get to it!

And this lovely little cowl will be ready when fall hits.  Which is never very long from June around here.

Lovely, soft, baby alpaca DH got me for Mother's Day.  In as close to olive green as he could get!

This week I'll see about finishing the piece work for Trifle quilt, and maybe finish that felting project.

June is off to a great OPAM start!!

The month has just started and I already have 1 finish, with a couple of more soon to follow!

My first finish of the month is a cute little tote bag for EJ.  I didn't follow a pattern, I just went with my gut.  She hauls quite a bit back and forth from work, and bag made just for her is always better than a grocery bag, re-usable or not.

Almost all my red, black, and white scraps have been used up!  YAY!!  It's always exciting when I see a dent made in the fabric stash.  I may have enough bits and pieces left to make her a set of coasters, but I make no promises. 

Next up is to finally finish my Halloween coasters.  They've been sitting for a while, and all they need is binding.  Or maybe bind a quilt that has been sitting for the last month!

I actually finished something!

I haven't had an OPAM finish in a while.  BASH kind of took over my life for a while there, and then I spent a week trying to get the house stuff caught up.  But now, finally, I had some time to sit down and sew.  My first finish was a hotpad.

Not too exciting, but still it's DONE!  And in my house, we never have enough hotpads.  These have stood up rather well to the wear and tear they get.  Much better than the store bought one we have.  Which I am so very slowly replacing.

Next I finished a cute little basket.  I'd like to think I'm really ahead for next year, but the reality is that this has been sitting for a couple of years in a state of almost finished.

I had made several of these for the teachers a couple years back, and wound up cutting out extras.  You know how you get on a roll when strip cutting?  So as I finished them and stacked them up to be filled with goodies, I had an extra.  So I put it away since I was on a deadline and thought I'd finish it the next weekend.  All I had to do to finish it was sew in the lining and add the trim.  D2 decided it needed trim and picked it out for this, since I have more than enough trim to last a lifetime and need to start using it!

I'm not sure what I will accomplish this week.   My plans are small and few.

Well, it's been interesting.  My computer died a sudden death, I have no where to upload photos without it, DH went to a comic convention, and BASH is in 6 weeks.  Thankfully D2 is allowing me use of her computer if I "need" it, LOL!  She is turning into a bossy little broad!

My finished for this month were a scarf, hat, wrist warmers, and headband.  Hopefully I can get photos next week! I'm off!

Sometimes life is just icky!

The last few weeks have been horrible.  There was a sick person in the house almost everyday.  We *thought* it was gone by S2's birthday party, but the next day, he and I both woke up and were pretty much laid out for a few days. No school, no housework, no nothing.  DH came down with it first, the day of the Blue & Gold for Cub Scouts. So while taking care of him, and trying to get the last items ready for the potluck, I had very little sit down time....unless I was doing advancement stuff and bagging badges, belt loops, and whatever.  He ended up taking 3 days off work.  The poor man was miserable.  By Friday I thought we were fine, no one else had come down with it, so we had the birthday party on Saturday.  That was fantastic, I love when parents stay and I get to know them better.   Then we woke up Sunday.  S2 and I moved onto the sofa and stayed there for 2 days.  Although we may need a bigger sofa next time. Tuesday was my birthday and since DH was broke from taking the time the previous week as well as the budget for S2's birthday party, our big celebration was Papa Murphy's pizza and instant cheesecake!  Although timing is a great thing....when the kids checked the mail, they found this.....

The "little something" from the January OPAM drawing!  HA!  So I did get a birthday present!  And what a cute one it is !!!

It just so happened that while cleaning up the sewing area, which is really the dining room,for the birthday party, DH had told me I needed to find a solutions for all the stray threads!  I told him someday I'll get around to making a thread catcher!  Now I don't have too!!!  And the bag pattern is so cute!! I'll be making one up to carry my smaller knitting & crochet projects in!

  The rest of the week was meetings and extra curricular, so yesterday I said no to everything except facilitating library club at the kids school.  All I did was projects! I finished 2 sets of BLS projects, one for a spring birthday...

 and one for a summer birthday...

Both sets were made using only items I had in my stash, left over from previous projects for the recipients. 

And my late night with tea finish for D2's room...

...a lovely cable knit pillow cover. Although she didn't want a liner, I think I have decided it needs one.  It will be a separate cover so she can change it out if she wants. 

Now, hopefully on to a better, illness-free week!

a FANTASTIC week!!!

Well last week was a pretty good week. I am pretty surprised at the amount I got done as far as housework AND projects!  Isn't this a great pile? 

I finished an afghan for S2. He picked out all the crayola colored yarn out the big box I had received last month. I can feel my retinas burning when I look at it, but he LOVES it!  It's the perfect size for when he is doing reading homework on the couch.  He asled me to "not finish" it so we can make it bigger when he gets taller.  By "not finish" he means the row or two of single crochet for a nice edge.  He's the child that can roll with anything, and he forgets that the rest of us don't work that way here!  :)

I also finished a table runner and one of four placemats.  I guess that's what happens when you finish on a Sunday evening.  The other three should be done this week, but honestly, I don't love them as much as I though I would.  So if something comes up I like better, they may be put off for a while.

And of course I worked up some dishcloths.   As many of those as I've made this year, I know some the other ladies that send items to bazaar make hundreds of dishcloths. And hats, and scarves, and all kinds of other goodies.  DH and S1 are usually the "unloaders of cars" during bazaar set up.  It amazing how much the ladies get done. 

And my favorite finishes are the hot-pads and Halloween coaster in the middle. I pieced the coaster back in September, to have by the 'puter during the week of Halloween.  Somewhere in the chaos of Carnival I lost it, but I have it now!!  And the hot pads were made out of scraps of fabric I loved, but weren't really big enough for anything.  DH is afraid to use them since they might get dirty.  I am positive as soon as I get them dirty, his concern will disappear, LOL!  I will be making some up for my BLS, since new kitchen stuff is always nice.  At least, with kids, mine never look good for long! 


 This week started out pretty awesome as well. After church and breakfast yesterday, I hopped online  after D2 did some research for  report.  I'm blog hopping, and as I go through the OPAM blogs, I find out they did a January drawing, not something that was scheduled, and I forget about the drawing anyways when they are.  I discovered OPAM through  Kris at Tag Along Teddies, and her co-hostess is Peg at Happy in Quilting.  They both make such beautiful projects, and when I can't sew, I just visit them to look at the eye candy!  As I am reading and scrolling at Peg's blog, I see the  announcements for the winners of the Jaunary drawing, and so of course, visit their blogs to see what works of beauty they've finished up.....and one of them is ME. It took me awhile to figure that out.  DH and D2 got quite a hearty laugh out of that!

Now if only S1 would finish high school, life would be moving along quite well. But I guess we can't have it all.

A slow week for crafting

Well, besides the TARDIS I finished last week, I only finished 3 dishcloths.  Since I spent about 2 hours a day on the TARDIS, I don't feel to bad about it. 

. 

I should never again have to buy dishcloths again though!!  This week I am making some potholders to get ready for Christmas.  It's never too early for Christmas prep!  I'm also cutting out blue, pink, green, and brown thimbles for a scrap quilt.  With the winter we've had, we can't have too many cozy blankets are!  Any water in the shade is frozen right now, and the bad winter weather is half the continent away!  Now I just need to get all the right fabrics dug out!

January BLS

My January Birthday Love Stash actually got finished! After telling S2 that I really didn't want to buy another pattern or book right now, he looked at me with his big brown eyes and said "Mom, you don't need a pattern.  You just need the yarn."  Now really, who can say no to that?! So of course I didn't. One handmade, stuffed TARDIS coming up. When D2 found it, it looked like this:

Now, it looks like this:

I didn't want to add too much detail, since we are talking about little big boy, almost to his double digits, who has a cat that loves to pick apart yarn.  The less for the cat to pick apart, the better.  And I think we got the "important" details, the ones that say "THIS IS A TARDIS!"

Now it is all wrapped up and packed away until S2's birthday. I am really excited about him receiving this, as it is something he has specifically asked for. He even picked out the shade of blue, he just didn't know what it was for!

Now I am thinking about March, and the birthday then.  DH is already going to a comic show for his birthday, but it is nice to have something to unwrap!

Found it!!!

For the last two weeks, maybe more, I have been looking for the little stuffed TARDIS I had been working on for S2 for his birthday.  All of sudden Saturday, D2 comes out to the living room and says "is this what you've been looking for?"

YES!!!  Apparently she had found it, and then put it in a drawer.  Then she forgot, until I was tearing the house apart looking for it.  I am trying to get it done by Friday while the kids are at school.  Then I can wrap it and put it away.  It has no pattern, and I am using the Dr. WHO Yahtzee container for the model.  It seems to be working out ok.  As long as no one ever wants me to make another one!

The only other things I got done were some more dishcloths.  I have a few other semi-started projects, but they may take awhile to finish!

I am making a use of the cotton yarn faster than I had thought.  But that's fine.  Bazaar is in November, and I am sure there will be plenty of other projects to work on between now and then.

And the best news of all is .....OPAM 2014  is here!   One of my favorite internet things ever!!