And another year gone....

I have been gone for awhile, and actually forgot I even *HAD* a blog until E mentioned it in passing one day. Life has changed quite a bit. I now work at a a small grocery, 2 out of 4 kids have graduated high school, 1 of those is now married, and 1 is on year 3 of a 6 year contract with the US Army.  Of the younger two, one is a junior in high school, and one will be in high school next year. So S1 came home from Iraq safe and whole. D1 married S1's best friend. While he was overseas, no bitterness there. (and if you can't feel the snark.....6 months later he is still upset.) DH took a new job, which we had high hopes for, but didn't pan out as well as we thought.  We were hand to mouth, payday to payevening, how to get milk for a while there.  Just surviving. No art, for either of us. No hobbies or fun unless it benefited the household budget or someone else bought it as a gift. No dreams, no way to get out of the mess we got ourselves into.  And now, we are back to new job, new hope, it can't be worse than the last.  And in all that I was looking for one thing online. ONE. And I could find snippets here and there, but not enough to work with.  Actual frugal living. Just google that and tell me how most of those results happen on food stamps.

 I already knew how to make my grocery dollars work.  Hi! I was a single parent food stamp mom for longer than I care to think about. Once a month cooking is a joke in that place. I was happy to get lunch leftovers, and DH was happy to take them. Scrap sewing?  Does NOT begin with precuts.  All I could think was "Are you people serious? Oh, hell, no. I hope that is the worst you live through." Really. Not in a bitchy way, but somethings just suck.  It's not to be bitchy, or judgy. It's just reality. If someone is googling "scrap yarn gifts" they should be able to make it with scrappy pieces of yarn.  Not minis or whatever.

In the midst of all this we had some family problems.  Some in-laws were constantly, CONSTANTLY, "triggering" (I kind of really hate that word) a spouse. To the extent that a holiday at home alone was better than being with the spouse and kids if involved the in-laws. Police were involved. It got ugly, and expensive. And the holidays were still coming up.  Can we say stress?

In light of all that, I have decided to take things in a new direction. The beginning of this blog was part of the OPAM challenge hosted by Kris Meares of Tag Along Teddies  and Sweet Peg of Happy in Quilting.   It is a great thing if it fits your life, and I finished so many projects thanks to their encouragement. But seasons come and go, and things change.  And now here we are.

I hope to sign up for next years OPAM. If fact, I just re-saved their sites to my toolbar. (It's kind of fascinating how much you lose from one 'puter to another) But for now, my goal is to be change I want to see in the world. ( I am not attributing that because I have have seen way to many different people....let's just go with it's true, shall we?) Less waste. Less stress. More beauty. More giving. More hobbityness and less scroogyness. Less wanting and needing and more helping and wrapping. (just because it's basics doesn't make it less worthy of giftyness.)

I am planning on reviewing actual scrappy patterns and books for both yarn and fabric.  I am planning on sharing the things I have done to save my home money and time. Some of them are and will be fails.  Some of them won't be. I won't do the math for you. (hell, I don't do the math for me, LOL)  But maybe there is something that you can pull that does help.  Most important, I want every mom or wife to know she's not the only one.  Most of us, and I would bet money that it is really all of us, have been there. Maybe for a week, maybe for years. But we all learned something, and that something isn't sponsored by Amazon (ps....I hate Amazon. They are my last resort.), or followed by a "may have been compensated by". I think if you need to compensate me, you are already realizing your failure. ( ahem....amazon). If I like what I see, I may facilitate a give-a-way. Or sponsor it out of my own pocket. I have a background in marketing, so I am familiar with the game.  (cue Reel Big Fish--Sell out with me to tonight, sell out with me......)

Here's my first book recommendation, no footnotes required. Get your hands on a copy of "The Science of Shopping". No, I don't remember the guy's name. Nor do I care. What  I do care about is how he walks you through marketing and sales angles in a way that leave you afraid to read an ingredient list in the store again.  And yes, I am. If I am interested in a product, I buy it, try it, keep or toss it. End of story. I let my dollar vote. And it carries a big stick.

My first project recommendation for yarn is find the cheapest granny shawl pattern you can find. They are almost all the same. And search for a free log cabin block for quilting. Really, its x*x x*a, x*b,x*c all the way around.  X is your starting square. 2*2, 2*4, 2*6, and on and on. And on. Mostly, just remember to research the public domain.  Because both of those should be in it.  I paid $6.00 (NOT REALLY...IT WAS IN STORE CREDIT!!!!!) for my granny shawl pattern because a) it was one page to put in a binder, and b) I liked the colors they used in the example photo by the header. It was the one by Ewe Ewe (here's a link just in case. I don't think they know I exist. And really, all you need is the first 2 rows. But I am  a basic crocheter.)

My first garden recommendation? Start a compost pile.  No walls, fences, or worms or whatever.  Just take the nasty veggies bits to a corner you don't go to often and dump them. Do the same thing next week. It is free. the worms will come on their own. Next year, dirt. And maybe some food and plants. I am not ashamed it admit I have harvested food from the compost pile. Celery, carrots, tatoes, whatever. It grows, I cook it.

My first household recommendation? Buy some vinager. Both kinds. Just have it on hand. Hair rinse? Got it. Counter spray? got it. Laundry softener? got it. Mildew? got it. I don't remember the last time I bough household cleaner.

Hopefully, next week I will remember I have this blog.  And maybe some photos. And I know there is always more snark...(blame my dad....he *thought* it measured critical thinking skills. The jury is still out on that.)

Almost done

Tomorrow is the last day of my 5 strands challenge.  The only problem with this is that the last 2 weeks have been pretty much a wash.  I had a very important work of heart to start, as well as some really busy kids.  Even as I type this, I am really paying more attention to the clock. High School choir is killing me!  Between the expenses and the events, it is becoming the center of our lives.  As well as dance, scouts, and basketball.  There were a few days in the last week that we were gone for 13 hours at a time!!  I don't know how people do this on a regular basis! 

Onto the progress.  Some days I did get 5 strands done, and others none, but most were actually 2 or 3 strands stitched up.  Here is where I left off 2 weeks ago.  The peice in the upper right is what all my stitching has been done on for last 2 weeks. 

I was frustrated that I hadn't had a lot of progress, and failing myself imposed challenge. But to be completely honest, I feel so much better about things now. 





As of right now after uploading this picture. 








Because even with not getting as much done as I had wanted to each day, here is the picture I took 10 minutes ago....

What a pretty big difference!  The one thing I ran into was that I somehow got a huge knot in the skein of black thread, so I wound up just working on the one color for a while, since it was easier than working out the knot.



There is no open space in this pattern, so there is still quite a bit of work to do, but after tomorrow, I can take it at a more leisurely pace.

There are 8.5 by 8.5 inches of solid stitching here!  But the results have so far been worth it.  I kind of feel like I should by an extra frame to work on it in, but using frames really bothers my wrist for some reason. 

 I think for my next personal challenge, I am going to work on some crochet projects I have stashed away.  And I am only going to do it for 2 weeks, and see how that goes for  a while. 

Now, on to that work of heart.  A friend lost her husband suddenly last spring, and I had offered to make a quilt out of his shirts for her.  She was very grateful for the offer, but wasn't really interested.  After a few months, I ran into her and she had changed her mind.  She asked if I was still willing, but completely understood if I wasn't.  Well, what kind of friend would I be if I wasn't still willing?  So after a time she had gathered a couple together, and and I picked them up and went to work.  I now have all the individual blocks done!!! YAY!!

 I found a pattern here at the Thrifty Quilter. It was perfect for what I had to work with, and with a couple little tweaks here and there, it is coming along nicely.  I had 3 light shirts, so I purchased and prewashed 2 complimentary colors instead of also having red.  I really want the new fabric to kind fade away and let the shirts be the focus.  We'll see if that's what happens or not.  Ok. The clock is ticking !!!!

Week 2 of my little goal

Since I am now halfway through my month long goal of stitching 5 strands a day, I have come to the conclusion that Saturdays don't work.  There just isn't enough time. In light of that, my 5 strands a day has turned into 5 strands 6 days of the week.  And the reality is a day of rest from something is not a bad idea.  This week I finished 3 little projects and started a larger project.

This is where I was at the end of last week. One finish and a couple really good starts.

YAY! The ball is rolling!   This is the little heart I had started last week. It is so stinking cute! I don't a have a frame for it yet, but I have put a couple on my wishlist.  It is the only project which is truly finished.  It just needs a home.

Also finished is this little sewing machine motif. It will be the cover of a needlebook later. It was a quick little stitch, and I may make more next year to gift to crafty friends.

And the bottomless pile is changing! The little Mrs. stitch project is done, but it needs to pressed and cut to its finished size.  And the new project to work on is a mistletoe piece that I want to frame in a serving tray. It's a beautiful design from an older CrossStitcher magazine.  It will fit in with my preferred decor perfectly!

So for the upcoming week, the mistletoe will be the go to project.  I have stuck some little Christmas tags in the car to work on when I am waiting for kids and DH. I am not sure I am going to make as big of a dent in the project pile as I wanted.  But progress is progress, and I think I may make stitching part of my daily to-do's. Not 5 strands worth, there are days when I am up til midnight working on them. What's a challenge without a little pain and misery?  But maybe 2.  Now, off to work on today's stitching!

My little challenge project

Last week I had made a commitment to stitch 5 strands a day in cross stitch/embroidery.  In the last seven days, I only failed one day.  It was a crazy busy day, and I was in a lot of pain from the previous day's activities.  It hurt to sit, stand, walk.  I was just  miserable, and I probably wasn't much fun for the family, so then I felt even worse about it.  So it was just a wash.  However, the other six days, I did the 5 minimum or more!  I even finished stitching one of the many projects floating around!

Here is the piece I sort of focused on this past week.  Mostly because it was the one on top of the pile. It will hopefully be a little stocking stuffer for DH.  I was actually starting to wonder if I would get any of these projects done before Christmas, which is kind of what prompted this whole experiment.  That, and I feel like I'm in a place where I'm not growing as a person. I'm not getting better at anything, I'm not doing anything new, I'm not learning anything.  I'm just kind of here. And really, stitching 5 strands a day is kind of stupid, but it forces me to work on time management with out having outside commitments.

When I started my 5-strand stitching, this is where I was in the piece.  Now, 7 days later, I am finished!!! With the stitching, anyways.  That is all I care about right now. Done, done, and DONE!  My stocking will may hold the cute little Mrs version I started after finishing the Mr.  Because even after the all the years we've been us, I still feel like we should be excited and happy about being "us". It's not everyday, that would make me sick with the gooey-ness.  But once in a while. 

And in the pile, I found this little key-chain kit.  Still unopened, still with it's magazine it came with.  But I love the pattern, so even though it's not destined for a Christmas present, it's getting worked when I don't work on the Mrs.  But I like it.  I may even have a little frame for it go in.  I think the wood medium with a metal frame would look great on my desk. 

Now, off to decide if I "owe" 5 strands for the day I missed, or I if I need to practice letting it go.  Which I have a had a harder time with ever since that stupid movie.  My stubborn side rears it's ugly head and screams "NO. NO WE DON'T WANT TO LET IT GO AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO LET IT GO!!!"

About that pile of craft supplies...

 After deciding to do something about the over abundance of craft supplies, I started with gathering the stitching supplies.  Oh. My. Lanta.  There are a lot!  There were kits in drawers, and bags in closets, and patterns or magazines on EVERY bookcase or shelf.  There were some upstairs and downstairs. Some in various states of completion, from everything together in a bag to just needed a frame.  The photo on the right here is just the "little"? pile by the recliner.  Yeah.....I think I dream big, or something.

There isn't A pile. There are PILES!  These photos are kind of embarrassing. I mean, really? This is ridiculous!  But I've been around enough craft rooms to know this is kind of almost normal.  The piles may be yarn, or fabric, or paint or whatever, but they're there.  Some people are definitely better at organizing the piles, neatly folding fabric, or dedicated yarn bins, or whatever.  Me? Not so much.  

 This little basket is full (over full) of little kits I've accumulated.  Sadly, there are more that I have found, and I have no bigger baskets to contain them in!  So one will go into each vehicle for waiting times.  Since I always seem to be driving someone somewhere for something, this plan should make a pretty decent dent in the pile by the end of the school year.  Whatever I don't love love love can go into a gift box, and then some of the birthday panic will go away.

 This is the lovely pile of project bags that I found stashed all over.  I start one, and something comes up, so it gets put away and ....well, it stays put away.

Which is why this is a project kit that I have carried around for 20 years.  That's a little too long.  So I started it last spring.  The one before the one we just had.  There are three of them in this set, so it may be time finish them.  Although, at this rate, I can give them to a my great grandchildren as housewarming gifts.  Since I'd like them in my own kitchen, that time frame doesn't work.

So my solution?  5 strands stitched every day.  Period.  For a month.  No going to bed til they are done.  No carrying extras strands stitched over to the next day. They are happy accidents.  I've got a little calendar page in my notebook I can keep track in. I may need to bribe myself to keep it up, but I think once I see progress, it may be the only motivation I need.  I am not worried about any finish work there may be at this point, just getting the stitching done.  Maybe when I am little less overwhelmed in life, I can make the finish work a priority. It can be a whole other monthly challenge.

Off I go now.  There are some stitches waiting to happen!  I'll worry about the piles later.  After this one decreases a bit!

oooh, I may have hoarding issues

Recently I was looking for threads for a cross-stitch project.  One that may make D2 veeeerrry happy on Christmas morning. Or maybe St. Nicholas Day, depending on when I finish.  None of my "real" embroidery threads fit the color scheme I wanted, so in to the leftovers I went.  That may have been a mistake.  There are BAGS and BAGS of 'leftovers' I have saved over the years. Because, you know, I may need them. None of them are labeled. I have no idea what the color number is or which company it is from.  The same goes for fabric, fancy papers, and yarn.

So...My plan, or goal, or thing which needs to be done, is to use them or give them away.  I know there are widgets and whatever to help keep track. I have no idea if I have time to track one down.  So in the meantime, I will keep an actual tally sheet with my project basket to keep track.  Hopefully in the next week or so I will add a list of tallies to the side bar.  If anyone has need of a general item to finish a project, I will happily send it off in the mail. And by general, I mean:

2.5 x 2.5 cotton squares in blue

or

any lengths of green embroidery floss in 3's (or 2's, or single, or whatever!!)

or

acrylic yarn ends of any color

or

green cotton yarns


Just remember, we are going really generic.  If you want greens with no snowmen, I can handle that. If you want the green that matches your sofa cushions, I'm not sure I can help.
Please. Please send me an email at dburnette10@hotmail.com with your request. lease put "crafty leftovers" in the subject line, so if it goes to my junk box, I'll be able to spot it!!! I can't throw it away, the pile represents too much money for me.  But if it goes where it is needed and wanted, the anxiety goes away.  Funny how that happens!  Now, on the upside, I DID find all the colors I needed for this particular project.  So I may not have any grey embroidery thread to give away. Right now anyways!

So think about your bazaar or holiday projects, and the things that can be a little iffy and drop me a line.  If I can help, I will. And if I can't, well, we won't know until we try! Here I would normally say "one man's trash is another man's treasure". But it's not trash.  That would be the problem to begin with!!

I would love to make this an annual or seasonal project, so let me know if you think it's worth doing!

Winter?

It's February, and we've barely had a winter.  No snow, one icy day, and a lot of rain.  There is plenty of snow in the mountains, but none at our elevation.  Which makes me sad!  I love snow days!  A few years ago I came to the conclusion that snow days are good for the soul.  They force us to slow down, with schools and businesses closed, it means we have some pure downtime to enjoy our families, or that book we've been meaning to read, play some board games, or just BE.  I know many people have consequences to those snow days, but I still believe they are good for our health. (And I think bosses who don't get that have their own issues! LOL) So I am feeling a little betrayed by the weather. 

Last week I finished one project and half of another.  The one project i finished is a little table topper that I had stashed in my sewing dresser because I had no idea what to do with it when done. 

But....in the process of dusting I realized the place mat I had on a little side table was way to big.  Enter the "duh" moment!  This little project was the perfect size!  So now it is done and put away, and the place mat is once again a place mat!  That makes S2 happy because he likes to set a table "properly" once in awhile.  At 8, properly is open to interpretation.  But matching place mats are a must! 

I also got my 2 scrappy stars done last week, but my camera batteries died, so no photos!

My half done project is a set of hand warmers (or fingerless mittens, if you like) for ME!  I realized all my yarn didn't fit in my yarn box, so it was time to get some of the put off projects done.  I should be finished by Wednesday with them.  Then a break from knitting should be in order. 

I am also hoping to get a yard project started.  After getting ivy and blackberries (mostly) cleaned out last spring, I discovered some ugly spots in the yard.  One is a dry, brown, little patch of nothing between our fence and the alley.  Right by where we have the compost inside the chain-link fence.  I am sure the neighbors love that view.  I had tried planting and amending the soil (kind of) and nothing grew.  A few dandelions and a spot of grass.  Yuck! So the fence is coming out, and we (I mean S1 with supervision) will build a raised bed around the area, and after lining and filling it, fill it with rhubarb.  S1 loves rhubarb anything, and it should be a large enough plant to screen the compost from the neighbors.  And cement blocks should, I hope, survive any to quick turns into the driveway!  We'll see what the weather and the budget allow for next week!

And another thing almost accomplished!

Last week, we did some some more canning, plum conserves. My goal was 25 jars, and we got it done.  We always give a jar to the neighbors that let the kids pick the plums, plus 2 jars a month til next year. 

We also got started on a house project that I have been wanting to do for years.  But it always seemed too big for our DIY skills.  Now that we are working on it, it is disgustingly simple.  Here is a photo of the space that we had.  We have no idea what it was for.  To small for coats or linens, but in the wrong part of the house to be a broom closet.  It was just a space where it was. 

 

This is what the bottom half looks like now.   We used cedar tongue in groove planks to line the back, although my hubby has to go get more because I am lousy at math!  The sides will be lined in cedar as well, and we will be spacing the shelves every other plank.  The perfect height for our DVDs to be in!  There should be plenty of room for all the movies we have, but I have already told the children and husband that if they don't all fit, something has to go.  My goal this week is to finish lining it while I look for what shelving I want. 

This is the one sewing project I finished.  It is the trial and error version of our teacher appreciation gift for Halloween.  I'll be making each teacher a set of two, as well as baking some treats to go into the staff lounge on the day of Halloween.  I figure even our single male staff need kitchen towels!  I hate getting stupid useless gifts. I can appreciate the though without appreciating the gift.  LOL, I've had a few of those in my life.  I tend to lean towards things are useful as well as attractive.  Although everyone has a different view of attractive. I haven't had any complaints yet, so I think I'm on the right track!

 
This week should see some progress on the closet, hopefully all of the lining in, and a few of these towels done.  I'm starting early, just in case life gets in the way!  With school starting up, so is everything else!!

School starts!!!!

My list was pretty short.  Get everyone ready for school to start.  Now, for some reason, my hubby seems to think it's like getting ready for grocery shopping. You get in and go.  But it takes a lot more than that!  Between school shopping, pep talks, getting back on schedule, all the paper work that must be done, it feels as if I need to get ready for the getting ready.  But off they went today, and came home happy! 

I didn't get any sewing done last week. Instead I spent my time in the kitchen and canned!  I love canning, but only when I have adequate help!  otherwise Things burn, break, and generally go sour fast.  We received zucchini from a friend and made several jars of zuke relish.  I think 18?  And I have more to do.  And we have 13 jars of plum conserve from the neighbors' plum tree. And I have more of that do do.  We didn't get quite enough strawberries this year, but I may make a batch of mixed berry jam.  YUM!  The kids aren't quite sure how they feel about the dried plums. No, they aren't prunes.  Those are a different kind of plum!  There are no pictures, since my hands were full, but maybe after I get everything moved to the pantry.  Hubby did get me a journal to keep track of what and how much I can after I over- and under-estimated how much we use.  So this year will be the first time I know how much is going into the pantry.  Then next year I can see how much we have left and adjust how much I need to make (or keep!).  I thought it was a great idea and very thoughtful of him!!

This week has more canning as well as a small home improvement project. I've been putting it off for a couple of years, but NOW is the time!! I am hoping to have it done by next weekend.  This weekend would be awesome, but unlikely!

Just a little bit behind

All of the camps are over except for 2, neither of which do I need to be there for.  S1 is going on a 50-miler for Scouts, and D2 will be doing a dance camp.  Easy-peasy for me.  I finished one project last week, a kitty print bone pillow.  I took a photo, and promptly lost my camera, so no pictures! 

The girls' room is still waiting for the last little bit of trim, and then I will be painting S1's room while he is gone.  I am very happy that no primer is required!  Just get the paint on!  He chose a soft grey, named "sharkskin".  Appropriate for a teenage boy, I think.  When we first bought the house, there were glow in the dark castles on the wall, but I got some primer and paint on the first weekend we were in the house.  It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't glow in the dark either.  I am hoping this paint job won't take an entire week.   I also have a quilt to finish for the D2 and a bunch of other little projects to get wound up and finished. 

We have spent the little free time we had last week de-cluttering the house.  In two days we took 10 boxes to the goodwill.  And the girls are still saying they have nothing to wear. HA! They are learning the error of that by doing laundry this week!  I'd like to get through more drawers and closets this week, but I am not going to hold my breath.  It is amazing how much stuff we think we need, and how much we never really use.  DH says we "need" the  two or three 8x8 casserole dishes we never use because it takes all three cook enough for us.  I say get one the right size, and get rid of all the rest.  Maybe he needs to dishes more often! LOL...

On the yard work list, I am hoping to build a real compost bin this month.  We have a semi-contained pile, but with 6 people, it get bigger than average.  We get great dirt out of it, and it isn't spread out all over, but I am sure the neighbors would like something a little bit more screened off.  So now I am off to see what I can get done sooner instead of later!!

No sewing...

or anything relaxing last week. However I did get one big, long put off, house project (mostly) done.  The girls' room is PAINTED!  And most of the trim is in, but we ran out.  So I think I'll just buy 10 feet a week until it is done. We are putting in through out the house, so I'm not worried about getting too much. So here is the "before" picture from last week.

Oh that glow in the dark paint was bad!  And notice how the ceiling LOOKS white?  Well, it wasn't, and we never noticed until we painted!  It is GREEN!  Pale enough to look white with the old blue walls, but rather obvious with the new yellow!

So now we have added painting the ceiling to the list of things that need to get done, but I think that will be NEXT summer. I have 2 more rooms to paint before September!  Here is the trim. Much better than the old stuff, which went around the room and over the closet and door.  It was glow in the dark too.

Since the trim is going all through the house, it is the only thing the kids get no say in, much to their displeasure.  But the girls are happy with the end result, aside from realizing the ceiling is green.

This week is all about getting everything in order for 2 weeks of day camp.  Cubbie camp followed by VBS.  I will definitely need some down time over the weekends, so maybe then I will get some sewing in!  Or at least hiding in the workshop staining some more trim!

A busy busy bee...

Tomorrow  I will be losing my mind.  We have a pack meeting for scouts, and I need to be running around getting ready for that.  I know if I turn my 'puter on in the morning, I will definitely get a late start.  So, I'll just do online stuff today!  

To start with, I finally finished a quilt!!

I have no idea why it is sideways.  I had to use D2's camera, and apparently it doesn't work the same way as mine. This is a stacked coins I finished and donated to a local fundraiser.  I'm curious to know how much it sold for.  The last time I did something quilted, they listed it with a value of $25.  Ummm, yeah, that wouldn't have covered the fabric. It's been a couple of years, so I hope they did better this time.  

I also finished a pair of knit wrist warmers for D2.

They are her favorite shade of blue and only took a week to knit up.   The only problem is I'm not sure how long they will fit her!

And the best part of the week was ...... 

My wonderful hubby getting all of his "honey-do's" done before his vacation ended.  Some of them have been waiting a few years!  Drywall is hung, planter boxes are built, and hose hanger is hung! Now I am just hoping we can keep up the momentum for a little bit!  I want to get another quilt done next week, and finish a little knitting project for ME!!!   I haven't done one of those yet! :)

Having a schedule!

As much as I make light of being a scheduling flake (and I am!) I have discovered the having ONE thing in the week that is CEMENTED on the calender does a lot for my sanity. And sure, my husband and kids think that making sure to get a blog entry done on a Monday morning isn't really a "real" priority. But I have found that I have gotten more, other things done during the week. And my hubby really likes it when he doesn't have to cook because I forgot about dinner.  So maybe it is a "silly" thing to do, but as long as dinner is in the oven by 5, it's all good. Oh, and everyone likes that fact that I have finished things!  I have to finish things before I can post about finishing them! :)

This week the one and only finished item is......a piano bench cover!

This poor thing sat in a box of school photos (?) for a couple of years.  I have a lot of those kinds of projects to finish.  We have had the piano since we moved into the house, and although it is so out of tune that the piano man said it was a waste to repair it, we still love it.  It is an antique upright that was used in the armory my dad worked at most of my childhood.  The armory had been a firehouse (back when there were stables for the fire horses), and a bar in previous years (like the early 1900's).  My sister and I had tons of fun on the ramp that the bartenders rolled the barrels up and down. (There were no bartenders or barrels by the time Daddy was stationed there)  What a piece of history!  In our rec room!  But we have kids that love to tinkle (and bang) on the piano, and some of them insist on carrying a pocket knife, bottle openers, and/or duct tape in their back pocket.  So I thought this would be some protection for the bench.  I used a 2.5 inch thimble block and just cut a huge pile of them out of scraps and did really big stipple quilting all over.  I added elastic to keep it on the bench.  I think with out that, it would be on the floor as cats and kids messed with the piano.

These are this week's star blocks.  I only wanted to get 4 a week done, but I used these as leaders and enders for the bench cover, so I finished quite a few .  And a huge pile of some started that I hope to finish up this week.  AND there is finally a (small) difference in the scrap bin.  Three, count 'em 3!, 1.5 gallon ziplock backs of fabric are GONE!!!  Well, used anyways.  And I got a "fun thing" for being so diligent and resourceful....a obelisk for the garden!  It will look gorgeous when the beans start coming up and winding around it.  If we ever get planting weather!

I have no idea what I am working on this week.  I have some ideas and some unfinished projects, nothing really pulling at me to finish it.  We'll see....maybe something will come to me as I gear up for spring cleaning!

Last week...

Last week my sewing machine was acting up.  I still have no idea what the problem was.  The tension was normal, the needles were new, and I broke 3. In ONE day.  So. After spending a couple of days just fuming over it and my inability to figure it out, I tried again.  And broke several more needles.  Saturday came, and it worked. I guess God wanted me working on other stuff last week. Anyhow, I finished the class project with a card game basket like the one you can see here. Of course, I had it all wrapped up and out the door before I got a picture of it, but it is literally the exact same as the one in the previous post that I had done.  And the checkerboard quilt fits inside perfectly!  my other finished items include these little guys:

Some more coffee wraps for the school bazaar.  When I get 20 done, I'll find something else to make, but these are cute, and quick, and, most important for a fundraiser, sold really well last year!

I also got 4 more star blocks done out of the scrap basket. And still no visible decrease in the amount of fabric stuffed into the basket!

I am not much of a "brights" person, but I can't get over how cool the black ones are!  I have decided that they will be sorted by background while they wait for a project.  Now I'll need to get a  pretty box for them too! 

My plans for this week include more star blocks (duh!), finish appliqueing Christmas quilt, and more bazaar items.  And maybe get some more yard work done.

A sense of accomplishment...

Oh does this weeks finished list have a an awesome finish!!! Long ago (really, about 2.5 years) I started an I SPY quilt for S2.  He was in kinder, so it's a huge chunk of his lifetime, and he wanted one so badly, and I had plenty of novelty fabrics to use up. And he came everyday and asked if I had worked on it.  For days and weeks, the answer was yes.  And then life got in the way. And last night, as he went with Daddy to pick up S1 from youth group, I sat on the sofa, stitching away at the binding.  The look on his little face when he came in and it was all finished and laid out on the floor for him to see!  he bundled it up and walked around the house for an hour with it!  The only reason he finally put it down was that he was NOT taking into the bath with him!  So, here it is below:

The I SPY fabric came from several sources, including a local Stash Dash Kids' Dash (the kids get 6" squares at each store), my fabric stash, and a few specially selected from the store on various trips. S2 picked out the fabric for the alternate squares and sashing.  He is really big into outer space right now!

I also finished a quilted checkerboard for the school's annual auction.  Another parent is going to cut checkers out of branch, and I may have enough crap fabric to make another basket like I had done for the teachers to keep the parts in. We'll see! This weekend I also finished some CrossStitcher kits I had started and never finished.  I love embroidery of any sort, but seldom have the time to work on it.  And I am so addicted these magazines!  I love the designs in them, and all the ideas for making them special.  Of the three house ornaments, I am keeping the ecru ones, and giving the red to the school bazaar.  Unless my best friends dibs it.  She loves real red.  I also finished this cute little pincushion.  So I have pulled all my pins from old pincushion and sent it on it's way and now have this little lovely sitting on my shelf.  It's a bit smaller than my old one, so I may have to make another one.  A good reason to make on the teacup pincushions. :)

And last of all, my scrap stash project!  These little stars are NOT using up as much as I'd like, but that just means I'll have more in the end! I am not a huge pink fan, but I love how the black and pink one turned out.  I have been trying to figure out how get more black in the scrap bin, but haven't come up with any GOOD ideas yet.  Running to the fabric store to buy fat quarters to stick in the scrap bin brand new just seems to defeat the purpose.  If I can continue with 4 a week, I might not see the scrap pile may not get bigger, and MAYBE get smaller.  Hubby dearest said maybe I should make the stars as I finish other projects, but where's the fun in that?  These are for when I don't have anything to do!

I have no major project plans for this week, which is  nice change from the last month! I still have a ton of meetings, but my daily schedule can be a little less hectic!  I am hoping to get some drywall hung by this weekend, but we'll have to see how that goes.

WOW!! February is almost gone!!!!

And I haven't gotten ANYTHING on my to do list done!!! Too many other "little" things got in the way.  Last week was Valentines, then we headed right into party planning and a Cub Scout Blue and Gold.  It isn't like I didn't get anything done AT ALL, just not the things I needed to finish for my sanity.  We had a good week, and the Blue & Golds are nice because the little men (usually) have earned their rank patches by then.  But.....it also means when you have those last three little achievements to finish, they get moved to the top of the to-do list! 

I did get one project (mostly) finished. Beware the glare! I could not get a good angle for these guys no matter what I did. 

These are magnets I made using old Maya Road and Prima embellishment tins. I cut the patterned paper to fit the bottom, glued it in, and then added some little somethings that I had in the crafting supply boxes. I did E6000 the lids on, and used self adhesive magnet strips on the back.  My 2 favorites are the red butterfly and the top blue butterfly.  It was one of those things that I had in the back of my mind for while, but just never took the time to do.  The tins were too cute to just throw away, but I am REALLY TRYING HARD not to hang on to every little thing. I thought I was done, and then found 4 more little tins to do up. LOL, a crafter's job is never done! These are another little something that will be donated to the school bazaar in November. Too bad they don't count for OPAM, though. I haven't gotten anything done for that in 2 weeks!

Next I have added a rather over the top, "what am I thinking" goal.  The following picture is my scrap stash:

These are just the little bits. No fat quarters, nothing bigger than 6x6. Just bits & skinny strips. Yeah....it's time to do something with these.  So, I have decided to see how many star blocks I can get out of this bin. I picked up the latest issue of McCall's quilting, and there is a lovely scrappy star quilt in it.  The finished size of the blocks I am starting with are 6 inches. I don't know if I want to do the larger 12 inch blocks yet. That decision isn't on the horizon at this point. I may have enough little ones coming out of this bucket o' scraps.  With 4 kids, and holidays, and various school projects, I know there is quite the variety of fabric choices.  I may go semi-planned with this, and then just do a few with whatever I grab.   The pieces that are too small to use in the star blocks, I'll probably build into crumb blocks such as what Bonnie Hunter at quiltville.com does.  They are fun when you just need some quality time with the sewing machine.  I hope to get at least 2 a week done.  Who knows, maybe the Mr. will let me buy something fun if I can get these done! 

Now I had better get to work if I plan on having any OPAM projects finished this month!

I miss my sewing machine!!

But that is OK because I am done with the non-sewing projects.  I enjoy doing other things as well, but sewing is my FAVORITE way to spend the day.  With Tuesday being Valentine's Day, it was time to fill the teacher baskets from last week and finish up the kids' class treats, as well as using the basket scraps for SOMETHING for the school.  We have a budget at school for teacher appreciation, so in getting reimbursed, I felt very strongly about using the scraps for the benefit if that school.  And some of the scraps were pretty big.

The "bouquets" are paper flowers with a fabric heart coming up out of the middle.  For the flowers, I used whatever was handy.  Newsprint, scrapbook paper, and brown paper bags, all sprayed liberally with some Smooch glimmer spray.  The "vase" is a soup can washed, spray painted, and decorated til I ran out of stuff to decorate them with.  Tags, die cuts, stickers, whatever.  I got 18 of these done, one of which I gave to the school secretary, because she is awesome, and the rest will got to the hot lunch ladies to decorate for holidays.

I found the idea for the class treats in the last issue of Crafts 'n Things magazine.  They are cardboard tubes cut down, painted, and embellished.  S2 chose a Japanese newspaper to wrap around them, and found some chipboard hearts that he had me cover in glitter glue.  They came out pretty cute! Cheap (which is import when you are doing 50 of something), simple, and he got to participate in the designing. D2 just went long with whatever her brother decided.

We have a bunch of functions coming up and I have no idea what I need to do for them just yet.  So in the meantime, I am going to run and get some quality time in at the sewing machine before I get another to-do added to the list! :)

January is over!!!

It is so weird that the first month of the new year is gone already.  I feel like every year goes by faster and faster as I get older.  Maybe it's just all the stuff we try to cram in to the year.  There isn't time to enjoy any of it, just enough time to get on to the next thing.  At least I got some stuff done in January. The pile of brush debris in my back yard is gone. (YAY!!)  It would be better if there was grass out there, all but a little tiny square was paved over at some point in the house's past.  YUCK! 

I also got 28 things finished for the 2012 OPAM.  Plus a couple of wood projects that were haunting me over the last year.  I still have a lot to work on though.  I really like mixing the smaller projects with larger, more time consuming ones.  The sense of finishing is so important to continuing.  Go figure.

I have no idea what I will do when I get some these bigger projects done.  It will be hard not to jump in to MORE, BIGGER projects.  I have a couple of ideas, but not sure I have the stamina to really dig in to them.  Right now it is "just keep sewing, just keep sewing" in my head. 

The sun has come out, so my brain is wandering into garden mode.  Last year was our first year, and I'd say it was successful.  This year we are going to try and get another bed built in the back non-yard, and maybe add some more veggies.  Last year, the kids planted carrots 10 to a seed hole.  They were very artsy carrots.  Definitely need to spread those out some more.   And I really want to get some of the other yard and house projects done. We'll see. The Mr.'s work schedule is anything but regular, and sometimes I get stuck trying to do some of these by myself.  And the look he gets on his face is priceless when he comes home in the middle of something.  (The best was when I ripped out the nasty drywall in the bathroom.)  They say marriage is a sanctifying experience.  I can see why! LOL

And another week done...

Last week was just weird.  I am so glad that D2's diorama has been turned in this morning.  The living room seems so empty without it.  It was hard to work around though, with wet paint and all. It came out fantastic, but when I went to get a picture, the camera was dead.  So I will be doing that when it comes home. 

So these are what I finished this week.   There are 3 of the pink baskets, soon there will be a total of 16. They are for the teacher's and staff at school for Valentines.  Another mom is going to fill them with goodies and we'll take them in the morning of.  I thought it would be a handy thing instead of the pile of cards and treats that the children leave on the their desks.  :)  I got the pattern/instructions at Sew4Home, but I altered it a little by putting all the rickrack on the out side, and making handles instead of using ribbon.  The ribbon was cute and showy, but I didn't think any sheer ribbon I had would stand up to actual use.  I just cut 2inch by 11 inch strips, sewed them right sides together, turn, and press. 

The LOVE banner is made from scraps from the baskets.  It will hang in the middle of the room they have hot lunch the day after Valentines.  There are 80 hearts cut out on the dining room table that I am going to make bouquets with.  I don't want any of the Valentine fabric left over!!  :) I also finished 5 coffee wraps to go into the Bazaar stash, and made the kids a basket for all the card games like Uno and Skippo.  Now, if the cards fall out of the box, they are still contained.  And I used up every bit of the playing card fabric I had.  YAY!!

February is almost here, and it has it's own list of things I want to accomplish.  I didn't get everything done this month that I had wanted, but I came close.  The only thing I didn't finish was S1's bed quilt.  That is admittedly a bit more of a project than coffee wraps.  So now I have 2 quilts I want to finish in February. It is definitely easier when you can get the momentum going and not have any bumps to slow you down.  Now it's off to work I go....I need to get the baskets done, so plan on seeing the rest of them next week.

PAX

Latin for "peace"

Unexpected vacation....

We had snow.  We did not have school.  We had chaos and noise and snowball fights.  We did not have homework.  It was fun, and I'm supposed to want to be done with the snow, and glad the kids are back in school. But I'm not.  I loved the snow. I loved getting to spend time with the kids on our terms. No scouts, karate, Sunday School, or school.  Now, as much as there is value in those things, it just gets really old running life according to those schedules.   I hated dropping the kids off today, even though they were screaming for joy the whole way there.  At least they like where they go to school, right?

Now, onto the things I actually got done last week.  I'll start by saying nailing the Mr. with snowball is worth 10 finished projects.  So not much got done.  Below is a shelf I had sitting in my bathroom for MONTHS.  What was it with the heart cutouts??  So I covered the heart up with a label and a bird sticker. I have no idea where it will go, since the art room doubles as our dining room.  Which is almost fair since the rec room doubles as the Mr.'s art studio.  I also finished a desk set for a dear friend who is opening her own counseling office.  She has coasters, a perpetual calender, and a charging station.

These little guys are D2's art class project.  She is doing a diorama about a scene in Tuck Everlasting.  I'll post a photo of the whole thing a couple of weeks.  After she has turned it in and gotten a grade.

 These are the 3 sewing projects I got done.  The blue basket is for holding pieces to a charm quilt I am working on.  The lower box I made for MY OWN HOUSE!!  I thought it would be a handy spot for all the nail care items.  I hate digging all over the house for a pair of clippers or a nail file. The upper box will go with the stash for the school bazaar.  I want to have 20 of them for the bazaar.  I think it'll happen.

 This week I think I will be working on scrap projects.  I have all sorts of scraps around that need to get used up.  I am thinking about starting a stacked coins quilt.  I also want to get some work done in the garage.  I would like to either get rid of it, or be able to park in it.  LOL...we'll see what happens!