Pasha Plum

2009-02-09T20:24:00.002-07:00

So, this is really fantastic and you all should watch it and pass it on. (Still busy here at school, and it might snow in the desert tonight!)

I am not sure I should be posting...

2009-01-08T16:51:00.003-07:00

I have been gone a long time and have thought about giving up on this blog thing because I will start school again soon and probably dive back in to the hole of internet darkness. But I made some blankets and am sending them to my family and thought I would take a picture for posterity and my own mind and then I thought I could put them on the blog for my own archiving purposes since I have probably lost my 5 readers. Some day I might get back into this blogging thing--when school is over and I have a mental life that is my own.

They are all wool, cashmere, angora and merino and mostly feel really nice. I just cut up the sweaters and serged them all together. I did lay them out before sewing to get a nice balance of color and texture. The last one is really soft merino wool that was a skirt, short sleeve sweater and cardigan that would have just looked so dumpy on anyone but for $4 it makes a gorgeous lap/sofa blanket. On that one I used rainbow thread in the serger to brighten it up a little.

I might have a couple of more posts here soon because I signed up for Regina's Birds of Change swap and have to make those up right quick.

It's been sooo long...

2008-10-24T12:12:00.002-07:00

Swamped with school, work, kids, life. You know the drill. I have not been making anything or lifting my nose from the grindstone (except a little bit). I have been swimming 1000 yards three days a week, which is pretty exciting for me. The Arizonans think it is much too cold to swim but I think 80 degrees is plenty warm, plus the pool is heated.

Just a link today to my new favorite thing: bento boxes. I ordered a panda one in a moment of weakness and am waiting with bated breath (a friend asked if it is for the kids...... ha!).

What to do with a rickshaw

2008-09-10T20:15:00.002-07:00

So, I had to buy this of course and I brought it home all excited because when do you see rickshaw fabric? It must be old because who would do that nowadays and then I started to worry that it might be culturally insensitive and now I am thinking that I won't be able to use it for anything. Am I crazy? Or is it fine and I can make zippered pouches or whatever and no one will think twice about it? What do you --my half dozen (I think, but maybe it is just five) -- readers think?

3 inches across

2008-09-05T22:08:00.003-07:00

So at 10 o'clock at night I am going outside to get the sheets that I hung up to dry (I am tired and it is time for bed and of course I have not made the bed). My clothesline is under my patio because the sun would quickly destroy my clothes here in the desert. I see something on the ceiling and had to show you one of the things that goes bump in the night.

Not that big you say?

You know when the spiders need red eye reduction you are in trouble.

Random

2008-09-02T20:32:00.002-07:00

My goodness, I have been doing a lot of not much lately. I have had no luck at the thrift stores and have not felt the need to create much. I did revamp some clothes to wear to my internship (which started today). And I took lunch in my bento lunchbox which was a great success. So I am just checking in and showing you my boys in their new hairstyles.

I did give my studio a good cleaning and managed to give a great big pile away on freecycle. Here is a picture in the dark of my lovely bits that I cannot seem to give up yet--they look especially nice without all the cobwebs.
Off I go now to do my homework--loads of reading and thinking about great big social problems.

A Burst of Craftiness

2008-08-14T18:13:00.002-07:00

School must be starting soon because I am feeling the need to make stuff. While out thrifting yesterday, I found this flannel and corduroy in perfectly matching colors. Probably somebody else's project extras and since this green is pretty much my favorite color I had to get them. I usually wait a few weeks to several years before I do anything with my fabric but I felt like these needed to be in a quilt and right away. I gathered the lace myself from a huge spool of double edged eyelet and put a needle punched cotton batting in the middle. Then I washed it and look how nice it turned out! I almost like the corduroy better than the printed flannel side.

I know the colors could have been boy or girl but the eyelet was crying out to be used. Now I need to find a recipient--sometimes I want to have another kid so that I can make more cool baby stuff and keep it but I am thinking that is not a good reason to have a baby. I feel certain that the months of barfing would make me rue the day I ever made a cute baby blanket. Not to mention the whole other person to take care of for the next forever!

Wallpaper spectacular

2008-08-13T11:50:00.002-07:00

Here is one of those things that the thrifter dreams of, a roll of the loveliest paper in mint condition for a ridiculous price. I gave a piece of it to the friend I was with at the time of the find and I am going to frame a panel for myself and put the others up on Etsy. This paper is so lovely with dense hand screened colors and such big juicy flowers. Does anybody know what kind of flowers they are? They seem kind of made up, I would probably call them cabbage roses. Can you imagine a whole wall done with this? beautiful.

Back to the Real World

2008-08-11T09:41:00.003-07:00

So we are back from Seattle and came home to no internet or phone service (on Tuesday) which was not fixed until Friday! It was a terrible and tragic time.

All better now though. :-)

Today was the first day of school and I put my daughter on the bus and drove the boys to school--first day of Kindergarden for my youngest and no picture--sigh. He was pretty stoked so I hope everything goes swimmingly for him. I am wandering aimlessly around the house not wanting to do my chores or my exercise routine or clean up my studio or anything really. I have not yet completed reentry from vacation I think.

So, here is my favorite vacation purchase (actually I have several but this one is for today). A bento lunchbox in my favorite colors. Ta daa!

I am doing an internship this year for school and need to take my lunch at least some of the days. It is pretty small but there is room in the bag for more if I need it and really eating a little less would be good for me, right? I have more fun stuff to show later after I get my studio cleaned up so send your best cleaning vibes my way--k?

edit: the lunchbox is by Zojirushi and can be found here

12 foot bar of pyrex

2008-07-20T12:27:00.002-07:00

I am leaving on a jet plane tomorrow and in the process of cleaning and tidying I got the idea that all my pyrex would cover the top of my now cleaned off kitchen island. Yep, it does.
Any how, I will be gone to Seattle for a couple of weeks and probably won't be posting, but I am taking the laptop so you never know what I might do. Tra la!

The hunt for the unexpected

2008-07-15T19:12:00.002-07:00

My daughter had an extra long piano lesson today and so my boys and I got to really take our time at the thrifts this afternoon. I found some good weekly reader books and a great little ottoman covered in yellow/gold naugahyde. Then I found this piece of upholstery fabric.

It is enough to recover the ottoman but I am not sure that I can bear to put this into harms way (of feet and such).
This was sewn and then hand trimmed it looks like. Can you see how great it is?!

The wildlife is leaping about

2008-07-12T09:22:00.002-07:00

You know it is the monsoon season when the ground is thick with creatures.

And now for something completely different.

Here is the before shot--an ultrasuede jacket from the 50 cent rack.
Ta daa! My new purse for traveling. I really like it but I wish I did not always have to carry so much stuff (I am secretly a boy scout and must be prepared for everything).
Those front slits are actually the pockets from the jacket--I am thinking of putting buttons on them so stuff won't fall out. What do you think?
The inside has lots of pockets and one is perfectly sized for a Moleskine.
Now I have to clean my house but I am thinking that wardrobe inspiration might be too strong to resist.

Patterns

2008-07-04T11:23:00.003-07:00

I found many vintage patterns at a thrift store for a song and bought them all up. Then I got them home and wondered why I bought them. I read the blog A Dress A Day and think I just got on the bandwagon for old patterns. Anyways I decided to put them on Etsy and sent a link to Erin over at Dress a Day. Then all the lovely readers came and began buying the patterns--I love that they are going to a good home. (The two patterns pictured are still in my shop.)
I wish I could get some of that red and white print for me--are they llamas?

Moving along

2008-06-22T20:55:00.003-07:00

Here is my pile of 5" squares--I figure there are about 500 of them which means I can make a king size quilt. I am thinking that I will have this professionally quilted.

There is a rough layout--I have put the colors in groups of four with the browns surrounding. I am not sure the design shows but I think it doesn't matter. I have to put some more strips together so I can see it a bit bigger.
Now I have to figure out a backing fabric--of course it will have to be thrifted or something that I already have.

I have been dreaming of a linen quilt.

2008-06-21T14:33:00.004-07:00

Pile of washed linen clothes from the 50 cent rack at the thrift store. About $8 worth of clothing--mostly 100% linen but some are linen/cotton blends. (that shiny grey there is a lining)

Buttons, zippers, labels and cut up linen fabric.

Close up of the lovely pile that will be a quilt. I am going to do 5" squares in a random pattern. after I have cut up all of this I am considering adding a few embroidered squares from my hankie/handtowel stash.

I am cutting up the squares now and will be posting the results soon!

What do you think of this?

2008-06-07T15:21:00.002-07:00

So I made this out of a felted sweater. It was gorgeous yarn and probably very expensive sweater but I got it for 99 cents and threw it in the wash. It shrank up really small and sturdy so I threw it in a pile for a few months and then pulled it out and made this basket. I folded the edge down and put some strapping band inside to make it hold it's shape and sewed it all together with wool yarn. Is it good or too lumpy?

More desert flowers

2008-06-06T22:14:00.002-07:00

When you live in the desert you have to pay close attention to things in order to see truly beautiful things. This is some sort of weedy vine in my weed patch that I love because it is green. Sometimes I think I should more carefully arrange the plants and cultivate orderly blooms but I am not much of a gardener in a more moderate clime, and working in the yard here involves heatstroke, so, you know....
I have been busy with the kids in swimteam and I joined the gym and have been going for a month now (yay me!). I think that I am starting to see windows of opportunity for crafting/sewing/studio time. That is good because this summer is going by fast (summer starts here in May with the hotness and all).

What should I do with this?

2008-05-31T21:17:00.003-07:00

Of course I got these at the thrift store, in a bag, in pieces...it seemed promising.....?

Bathroom set with hardware added in black marker.
Dining room and living room furniture. The book shelf needs books and the planter had some dried play dough in it but the flowers had long since gone. On the table is steak and potatoes, a loaf of bread and one very tiny knife, (because of course there is only one chair).
These are the babies that came with the set--the pink one is actually a little bit pinker than that. And then of course the raccoon. Can't you just imagine the little girl that played with these?

They were poor and couldn't afford the doll house so she just used a box but every inhabitant of that humble house was welcomed with open arms and loved equally.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got this in a bag at the thrift store--it was in pieces and I was not sure what it was but it seemed cute and you know how that goes. I only glued the major panels together--all the painting and small pieces were already on. It is missing two small pieces on the back at the bottom but otherwise seems complete. The painting is really nicely done with only a few splotches (must have been done by an adult). The thing is, it really isn't my style in terms of collections. Do you think I should Etsy it? Or do any of my ever expanding reader list just love it?

Meme & Softie

2008-05-25T11:07:00.003-07:00

This little yellow guy was sent to me from Janet in the softie swap from crafty daisies.

My boys have been trying to steal him for a couple of days now. Thank you Janet!

This little brown guy is my contribution. He is made from a mohair sweater and his eyes are old bridal gown buttons--talk about recycling!

MEME

I have been tagged by Susan to tell you all about me. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. what was i doing ten years ago?

I was at home with my 1 year old daughter, spending a lot of time being thrifty. We lived in student housing and were always on the edge of broke--happy times!

2.five things on my to do list today:

It is Sunday so I will spend lots of time (#1) resting and (#2)relaxing--I have a couple (#3 & #4) of sewing projects to work on and I will go to church (#5).

3.snacks i enjoy:

Hmmm, there are a number of snacks that I enjoy so much that I cannot keep them in the house: those japanese peanuts with the different crunchy coatings (sesame, soy, etc.), just about any kind of cookie, and spicy hot trail mix. I also love dried cherries with dark chocolate, surprisingly I can limit my consumption if the cherries and chocolate are separate (not chocolate covered cherries). I like apples, and raspberries are my all time fave.

4. things i would do if i was a billionaire:

Buy my mother a house, pay all our student loans and mortgage and car off. Put in a swimming pool and do a few remodels. Pay for the kids college. I don't know if a billion will cover that much any more! Design a program to help people who are involved with CPS--parenting, job skills, etc. And most importantly start hanging out with other rich people so I could guilt them into donating substantially to worthy causes and easing up on consumption.

5.five places i have lived:

Okinawa, Japan (alas, I was only a baby). Honolulu, Hawaii (I played Chinese jump rope all the time). Seattle, Washington (Home and I love the rain). Knoxville, Tennessee (middle school, high school, some college and I don't have an accent). Sunnyvale, California (the armpit of the world).

6. people that i want to know more about:

See, now this is where I drop the ball--since I have only 3 readers and 2 of them have done this meme I am going to leave it up to my mysterious non commenting readers to unmask themselves and join in on this meme. Let me know if you do or leave your answers in the comments--I would love to know more about you.

Oh my goodness!

2008-05-16T16:21:00.005-07:00

I bought this piece and it was smooth, a little bit stiff and had obviously been folded up for a long time but it seemed to be cotton (inside and out) and I love that old fashioned pink. So I threw it in the wash and look what came out. So soft and drapey! I have enough for two baby quilts so I just need to figure out how to trim them--I am almost thinking that a simple bias binding would be enough--what do you think?

I made something!

2008-05-12T13:34:00.002-07:00

I found a full length skirt at a thrift store that I haven't been to in a really long time. It was $1 and I had no idea what I would do to it but almost right away I visualized an apron--it is a nice sturdy polyester and the embroidery is too so I know it will wash well. I used the waistband for the neck strap and a scrap for the waist band which has a button. The other half of the skirt will make another apron but I will use ribbon for the ties. Almost no waste as the zipper was salvageable and in my stash for a future project.

The only bummer is no pockets but I used all of the material and I would have to do inset pockets so as not to cover the lovely embroidery and I am too lazy right now--I can always put them in later, right?

I will put the other apron up on Etsy next week.

Ground meats....Intriguing? Discuss.

2008-05-09T15:07:00.003-07:00

So, I am thinking not so much intriguing as....hamburgers. Too bad this one has a bit of something dried on the cover. These pictures just thrill me so much--the colors and the captions and then of course the foods. Sigh.

Tempting....

2008-05-06T09:14:00.002-07:00

I got a bunch of these booklets at my favorite thrift--1956 and they knew all about low calorie didn't they? Your eye ranges over the jellos and salads and vegetables and then rests on that meat right there. Then you think maybe it is not meat but some kind of unattractive casserole and you look closer. Hmmm.....yep.....it's meat--lots of it--and rather fatty. Not sure how that fits into the low-calorie category or actually the tempting category either.

Yumm.

I am supposed to be writing my paper

2008-04-22T13:08:00.003-07:00

Actually, I tried to post this a week ago but blogger was not cooperating (for 3 days!). I got 8 of these squares and some plain gingham ones to go with. I do have to finish two of them but I think I actually will go and get the pearl embroidery thread and do it because I love these!! You can see the others over on my Flickr account.

Well, I have a final I have to finish tonight and a presentation on Thursday and then I am done for now. I get the whole summer off which I can hardly believe. I have an enormous list of things I want to do--new work wardrobe, this chicken scratch quilt, linen quilt (hmmm, I am not even a quilter, what gives?), more covered buttons, perhaps another pop-up book, lots of apron dresses, lots of bags, moving my daughter's sewing table into my studio so she can sew with me and much more. I will begin with a huge clean up of my studio and put piles of stuff that I must use in order.

but first I must finish school...

desert flowers are tiny

2008-04-16T18:52:00.001-07:00

Out walking the dog today, I saw these flowers on a fence--such lovely detail.

Delicious package

2008-04-10T08:56:00.002-07:00

All right, all right, all right--I have heard the teeming masses and am posting something new. This is a lovely package I got from Barbara as a 'just for no reason' occasion. Thank you so much!! I have ideas swirling around in my head to use these in some weird assemblage but school is bearing down on me so it'll have to wait. Of course the fabric has to be an apron, but all in good time, right? I am sending something back but haven't decided what is a fitting reply to such cheesy goodness.

Anyhow, I have two weeks to get two papers written and swim team just started for the kids and I am very tired so, not sure if I will get much up here for a bit. But May 1 is my last day of school and then I am freeeee for the summer. (hope I make it!)

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T11:04:00.001-07:00

This card cracks me up--obviously I can't send it to my Grandpa, unless he is willing to give it back to me.

Idea!

2008-03-15T21:41:00.003-07:00

Ok, thanks for the feedback (woo hoo more than 3 readers!). Tell me now what you think of my new (to me) idea.

#1 I am going to concentrate on making my apron dresses and bloomers from newborn to size 4 (or 5?) in vintage fabrics and trims and buttons.

#2 I will perfect the apron dress and all its permutations with the fabric I have now and will acquire more from my usual sources.

#3 I will sew these as time permits while I am in school and list a few on Etsy as I feel like it.

#4 I will scope out the children's boutiques here in town as I have time.

#5 Then when school is out and I have a decent inventory, I will make appointments with said boutiques and show them my wares.

#6 I will ask if they are interested and if not, why.

I am washing a great pile of fabrics right now and will iron them tomorrow and begin cutting out soon. I have to fit in some homework sometime, but after being in kind of a fog for a few days I am feeling it lifting. Does anybody else get that fog that just blocks positive feeling and action?? I hate it and rail against it and I never can figure out what dispels it. I think tonight it might have been seeing part of a PBS pledge week special on brain exercises and how you have to think yourself out of a rut. So I just decided to pick a path and go down it, hence the apron dress thing. I know other people make them but I like to make them and think the simplicity of the design really works with the fabrics--plus they are comfortable for the little ones.

So now the danger is my waking up in the morning and thinking that this was not such a great idea and what does it all matter anyways.

So, once again I ask for your opinion--

good plan or problematic plan?

Are the apron dresses enough or are the more complicated ones better?

Is the dress and bloomers enough or do I need to do headbands or bonnets?

(I should warn you that I never liked the headgear that came with outfits for my daughter and they are awfully fussy to make.)

But maybe the outfits really need something more?

Of course, I assume that I will drop the apron dresses after a while but I am thinking that concentrating on one thing and getting it really right might be a good strategy for me.

See how I am convincing you all that I am right?

Question

2008-03-13T15:08:00.003-07:00

Ok, so heres the deal: I have an enormous stash of fabric that I could never use up for my own consumption. Most of it is vintage and pretty nice stuff. I really like to make what I think are gorgeous children's outfits in unusual combinations. I cannot seem to give this stuff away. I have my Etsy shop and sell very little there--I don't know if it is me or the venue (probably both). I am very reluctant to go out and sell my stuff in person (see: rejection, fear of). So I started this blog as a way to meet people and maybe make connections but that does not seem to be working. I am a mediocre blogger and picture taker and not really a very good commenter on other blogs. These are all traits that don't bother me in my real life (I am hilarious and well spoken out here) but are a detriment to making connections in blogland.

Case in point: this dress is beautiful and if I had a girl who could wear it -- she would (if it killed me). Do my 3 readers think this is cute? Would you buy it if you had a size 3 girl child laying around at home?
Any advice for me? Hmm? Buck up Pasha! thoughts?

Thriftin' thriftin' thriftin', keep them dogies thriftin'

2008-03-07T13:09:00.005-07:00

You know--sing it to the tune of Rawhide. I an effort to avoid reality again today (and in a need to keep you all impressed with my fabulous thrift stores) I went in search of treasures in a couple of places that I don't go to as often. They did not disappoint.

This picture is dark but shows the stitching on the doilies nicely--the sheet is very nice but is only printed on one end (couldn't tell that from the way it was wrapped).

The pink is a duvet cover but has so much yardage of that lovely fabric--It is modern but I still really like it. The top fabric actually matched so nicely that I bought it, even though I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

This was a little mildewed but was only 10 cents and has some fun stuff in it.

There are actually several copies of each game in the notebook--can you identify all of the actors?

This Pyrex is getting to be a problem.....but lovely fabric, no? (The middle bowl is plain turquoise and the small one is the same as the large.)

I like these chickenscratch dishtowels--handmade and somewhat used, but still lovely. They would be nice in a red kitchen.

Hotpad/trivets--probably fairly new but very nicely done and a nice old Scrabble set. I haven't checked to see if it is complete.

I think tomorrow I will do my vintage book collection, so keep your eyes peeled!

Random Assortment collection III

2008-03-05T16:14:00.006-07:00

I have lots of things that I have bought on a whim for no good reason (as I am sure you all have too). Here are a number that were close to hand at the moment of photography.

These gloves (shown with my 4 year old's hand for reference) I have had for ages. I don't remember when it was (high school at least) but I do remember the extreme thrill of finding them. Because there are 5 pairs, I used to put one on each finger and arrange my hands just so and imagine that the picture would make a great album cover. I don't know for who and I am not much of a music person but the idea persisted for a long time.

I have a cooking friend who looked at this and said "oh, an egg poacher" and looked at me curiously as to why it was perched in my studio. I don't know, it is just a funny thing and I am not an egg poacher so keeping it in the kitchen wouldn't make sense.

These snack bowls are just so lovely and at 15 cents each.......

Now of course, I need to be on the lookout for some egg cups so I can put my boiled egg cosies on some boiled eggs. (Then I would have three egg related things...and so, a collection that would necessitate a whole separate post!)

I just got this the other day at the Salvation Army--I am pretty sure the lady gave it to me for free. I am also pretty sure that it is not a detergent bottle cosy but it just had that shape and I do not have any dolls to fit this (or, actually, any dolls). The fabric is very stiff and the red is some kind of stiff, shiny, nylon tablecloth material. I did not take a picture of the back but it has a big zipper sewn in with white thread. It is hanging on my wall now--I had a small hanger. (of course I did--I have EVERYTHING!! ( Send for help!))

the problem with swaps

2008-03-04T15:18:00.003-07:00

You see, I either do them too soon or too late. The sign ups are not even closed over at Greetingarts, and I am done with my buttons. Of course, I will have to do more because I really, really like these and need (yes, need) some for myself and my daughter really, really wants some too. And while I have faith that I will receive six excellent buttons in return for these, I want these too. It is too bad I can't seem to get a good picture of them. Alas, my photog skills are lacking--I should do something about that.

So now I should be showing you another collection but it'll have to wait. I've got sick kids and homework to attend to and really taking the time to do the buttons (so easy!) was not supposed to be on the agenda today. After all I had two months to get those done and I have two days to get this batch of homework done. Can I say priorities?

And can I say housework? I have not dusted in ages, as you can see by this cobwebby baby slumbering in the sunshine.

Button Swap

2008-03-03T11:39:00.003-07:00

So I signed up for the button swap over on Greetingarts. I have to be very careful with my swapping because I get very burned out on swaps but I watched the last button swap with great envy and jumped at the chance to join in this one.

Here is my stuff all ready--the theme is Animal Fair and I have an idea percolating in my brain. I have to get it done quickly because I have some serious school work to tackle soon!

Collection #3 is coming soon!

Lovely Linen Bits: Collection II

2008-03-01T17:32:00.010-07:00

Here is my pile of thrift store linen bits. I snag them from the miscellaneous bins and usually get them for a dime or a quarter but I have been known to pay a dollar. If the store has a nicely arranged basket with individually priced hankies that are washed and pressed--they are asking too much. I think that I will use them but only rarely do--I need to remedy that or when I die someone is going to take all my stuff down to the thrift store and they will sell it by the pound.

Pillowcases--I have more but they are in circulation on our beds.

Hankies and monogrammed linens, some newish and some old.

A couple of linen table sets that have never been used and a couple of napkin sets that have a lovely soft washed feel.

Napkins--they might be nice in a quilt?
Real Irish Linen decorative dishcloths--I need to wash them to give them the lovely soft feel. The red one would make a beautiful pillow. I don't really do throw pillows though.

More linen dishcloths--so soft.

Not a very good picture, but anything eyelet or cutwork I will snatch up. Love the textures. Also green and orange are my favorite colors ever.

More napkins and a bit of hand stitched quilt top--it is pretty ragged but might be nice in an all hand stitched doll quilt.

This collection is also not on purpose. I just see nice little bits and add them to my pile and every so often flip through them and think about using them.

Post of Pyrexy Goodness

2008-02-29T14:07:00.009-07:00

So, I am not much of a stylist but here is most of my Pyrex/Fire King/milk glassware. The sugar shaker above is where we keep our cinnamon sugar mix for toast--I got it at a thrift store in Knoxville, Tennessee last summer. It has a metal lid that was very scummy when I bought it but it came completely clean.

I love the stacking mugs and want one of each cheerful color they come in. I think it was Hyena in Petticoats who had a set of four with oranges on them--but she is in Australia and the shipping would have been very painful. Let me just say that this collection is kind of by mistake--I purchased a few pieces and then started finding more and more. My rule is to only buy pretty good condition and very cheap--$4 is about my limit. Of course there are some exceptions: the yellow bowl above is chipped but I just paid a dollar.

I have several more of the turquoise with folk images on them. I think they must have been reissued, but I still like them. I have one more smaller of the set in the middle and they are from Pyrex, England--So I think I paid $12 for the set--only one lid though.

That big gold one I paid $10 for and totally regret it, I just don't like it as well as the others but it was 1/2 off so I was beguiled into thinking I liked it for only the low, low price of $10! I am searching for lids for the little brown ones--I have seen them on other blogs and am totally jealous. Also, I got the orange and brown divided dish recently because I liked the design but I cannot for the life of me figure out what to cook in it. The custard dishes also make good dessert dishes.

The small stack of bowls I actually have 10 of--we use them for ice cream dishes in a vain attempt to rein in the serving size. The rooster mug is not a brand name but I like the design. The big bowl made for a very exciting day at the thrift store for me. The little red one is pretty old I think--I really wish I had glass fronted cupboards in my kitchen to show all these pretty things off. My daughter gets so annoyed when I rearrange the cupboards to fit one more thing in. It is like a jigsaw puzzle and her job is to empty the dishwasher!

The snowflake and sugar dish have gold on them ( hard to see in the pic). The yellow bowl I got today!

That top one I got today--very nice. Still has crusted baking stains on it but I like the design and it is one of the older ones I think. The bottom one had a lid so I just bought it without looking at it and it has a chip that makes me a little sad. I have several small handled bowls with glass lids--more modern but I like to use them instead of plastic for leftovers.

So, there is my collection--I am showing you this because Chickenfoot is going to be showing you her collections on her blog so I thought I would join in.

yee haw!

2008-02-22T19:19:00.004-07:00

It rained on us a little today but the sun did not blind us or make us hot so it was lovely. I am not sure why I like the rodeo so much but I think it has to do with the culture that surrounds it--I like just about anything that has a unique and tight knit culture around it. Especially if it involves traveling from place to place. I love the circus (Cirque de Soleil!), fairs, Harley riders--that idea of just living on the road surrounded by your friends just fascinates me.

I, of course, have a mortgage, three kids, a husband and more stuff than should be legal, so I am not going anywhere. But let me get rid of a couple of those things and I just might run away and join the circus (I fear I am not qualified for the rodeo).

New purse

2008-02-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

It is still not the perfect purse but it is getting closer--I think the size is right. The straps need to be about an inch or two longer. The interior pockets need interfacing. The whole thing needs one more layer of interfacing--perhaps with the lining and outside bonded together.

It will do for now.

Fun at the Thrift Store

2008-02-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

After slogging through a chapter from my homework and assiduously avoiding housework, and after carefully averting my eyes from the lack of dinner preparations and indeed, food in the house, I went thrifting.

Pretty good day out there.

I got a couple of backpacks to go into my 72 hour preparations--I am setting up one pack for each of us with clothing, food and stuff for an emergency. Right now I have it all in one huge suitcase/duffel but it would be very unwieldy to move around and doesn't have that much in it anyways. I will spare you pictures of those but look at these pretties:

And these buttons were too hard to resist, even though I don't have much use for them.

How about this golfing fabric? I am not a golfer, nor is anyone I know but maybe I will make bags to put on Etsy? I don't think it was intended but all the golfers look like people of color or very suntanned.

So that was my day--not too fruitful workwise but very nice scorewise.

Thrifted

2008-02-08T16:26:00.000-07:00

I found this great book holder/shelf thingy that was made by a boy in shop class for his mom in 1989. I am assuming.

The books on it were thrifted way back awhile ago--they have great pictures of frolicking children in darling dresses.

The Gallimisss

2008-02-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

From imagination to reality......I really should be doing homework, but the pleas of my 6 year old did not fall on deaf ears.

Tucson Etsy group

2008-01-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday our local newspaper had an article about Etsy. I was not mentioned but I did get a local sale after the article ran and then I found the Etsy street team Sonoranartisans. So cool. They have just started a blog and are organizing local shows/bazzars. Of course I have a ton of homework to do and have no time to sew right now!!

The camera on my Mac can keep my boys entertained for hours.

Etsy is going well

2008-01-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

So etsy is going well--I guess it goes to show me that if I put some effort into something....I have a custom order and have two more orders to ship tomorrow. Yay me!

I am having a hard time getting into the school work though. I want to do so many other things.... but.... then the school stuff is important too. I have to do two very time intensive projects this semester.... but..... I have good partners. One instructor is not too good.... but.... I have hope that she will get better soon.

Well enough musing for now.

Is anybody out there?

2008-01-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

So, I completely dropped out of sight and now I am wondering if I am on anyone's blogroll? Does anyone care if I ever write again?

I have considered just deleting the blog as a failed experiment and may still do that but I have enjoyed the contact with you interesting people.

I am still working out how to have the time and energy to go to school, be a mother, find some friends, be a wife, take care of the pets, clean my house, make stuff, blog, shop, and other stuff too. You know?

I just put a bunch of stuff up on Etsy because I cannot give it away fast enough. But having a blog and networking seem to be essential to selling. I am a terrible blogger and networker and seller but like I said I am piling up with stuff that I need to get rid of.

At least half of this is really nice vintage fabric.

Perhaps a picture is in order.

Perhaps another?

I could go on but I won't.

I need to sew this stuff up into something that people will take off my hands--preferably for a little bit of money.

Sigh... well leave me a comment if you read this, and I will send you something--tell your friends and I will send them something too.

Oh baby me

2007-09-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

So now I have my new laptop and printer (with built in scanner) and I am trying it out. On my trip to Seattle, I saw my mom who has been going through all the old pictures. She found this one of me --three days old --in an outfit that she had made for me. So not only do you see that I come by my creativity honestly, but I am one cute and well dressed baby!

I think I will post this because Blogger is acting funny.

PS. Chuck E. Cheese is possibly the most horrible place to be on a Saturday at noon--we had a birthday party to go to--and my poor boy had never been and had no idea what to expect. He came away pretty pleased with his bat ring prize and high praise for the pizza (!!!). (He gets excellent, homemade pizza every week at home......sigh.)

Alas, such a quiet neglected page

2007-09-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

I like to do the FoodBlog Blog Hop sometimes, and I often happen upon blogs whose last entry was sometime in 2006 and usually is an apology for not blogging and a promise to be better about it. So I won't promise anything but I am writing again.

I am trying a new product in my etsy shop -- hand dyed lace. I did some on a whim and liked how it turned out. I had bought a large tangled roll of rayon lace in a grab bag of notions at the thrift store--probably 50 or 75 yards. I, of course, have no use for this much lace but I did want whatever else was in the bag. So then I dyed some and think it would be great in a number of sewing and non-sewing projects.

I have many lovely thrifted items to show you for next time--aaack, I just made mention of a next post!!

Vacation!!

2007-07-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

At last, my time to escape the heat has come! We are going up to Seattle by way of Utah and coming home by way of California. So I will not be posting for a couple of weeks.

But, here is my contibution for the hand done fabric swap over at Bitter Betty's. I was not sure about the fabric but then I did the lace and now I am happy.

So, tra la for now.

Get a load of this fabric!

2007-07-11T16:39:00.001-07:00

I just put this up on Etsy--hilarious fabric. I think it is funny which people take it to mean 'broke' and which ones take it to mean 'need a push up bra'.

Sneak peek or sneek peak

2007-07-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

I really like how my silkscreening for Bitter Betty is turning out but as I look at it I realize that the difficulty is going to be "What to do with it?". I really needed to do a lovely allover print that would lend itself to totes and dresses and "whatever your little heart desires" but instead I do a beautiful but awkwardly large design that doesn't lend itself to anything but a frame. Well, I have faith that imaginations other than my own will see myriad possibilities and get right to work bringing them to fruition.

Doll Quilt Swap Bonanza

2007-07-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey lookit everybody! I got my quilt from swap mama Wendy a few days ago (bad, bad me for not posting sooner). It really is quite lovely--I love the colors and bumpy texture.
Thank you Wendy!!

Mine is done and going into the mail today, yay!

2007-07-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

All the doll quilt frenzy makes me want to share a project I did last year with my church. We built, painted and decorated 75 doll beds. Then we made a mattress, mattress cover, pillow, pillow case, two double sided top sheets and a quilt for each one. We also put a doll in each bed. They went to an organization that supplies toys to kids in family foster care. It was a huge project and I just about burned out on it (lots of people helped but I did about half the work), but the pictures are so great.I was reading over at Angry Chicken about the beds and sheets to go with the doll quilts in the great DQSII. Very cute.

Doll Quilt Redux

2007-06-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

So, the quilt seems to be going over well but I still wasn't quite satisfied. I did some fancy machine quilting and turned it on its side and I like it much better!

I know that is cheesy but the middle needed something and I like to do the freehand writing.

The funny thing is, I am not even really a quilter and almost never will start something from scratch. But give me a couple of squares and I cannot keep myself from putting it together. In this case I had a stack of scraps and four squares of the four stripe gingham. Someone had donated this pile to a big charity project I was working on. So now it is a cute baby quilt with a flannel backing.

This is in the center square.

I love the challenge of taking something that I would never have started with and making it into something that I actually like--or at least someone would like. This will go to a local charitable organization.

I am a neglectful mother

2007-06-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

Here is my daughter's hair. What you see there is one gigantic dredlock. She is on swim team and apparently has not been combing, brushing, or even running her fingers through her hair. (But she has been washing.) I have noticed that the bun she has been wearing for the past couple of months has been looking a little raggedy but I really had no idea it was this bad. It took two whole hours for the hairdresser at Fantastic Sam's to comb it out. I was gonna have them just cut it off but the nice hair lady wouldn't do it. And she only charged me $19.99 for it (haircut too)(I gave her a $10 tip, because well, two hours!!? (I felt like such a cheapskate at that)).

Sorry, no after photo (she is off swimming again).

The elusive title

2007-06-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

So I got all ambitious and joined the doll quilt swap and then completely dropped the ball on blogging. I finally got google reader going for my blogroll and that made it so easy to keep up but less easy to stay involved. My class is over on Friday--can't come soon enough--and swimteam is almost over. Hopefully then I can get back to some mental order.

Anyways, here is the doll quilt I put together. I am not sure if it is good. The middle square is actually a vintage square that I found in a random bag at the thrift store. My swap partner asked for quilter's choice so I just started sewing. So I ask you my loyal readership if you would enjoy getting this quilt in the mail? I have a couple of other ideas so I could do another but I don't really feel the vibe right now. But I will re-do if this one is not up to snuff. (you see I am not really vibing on this one either but maybe it is good?)It is machine quilted but I did hand finish the bias tape and label -- which for me is sayin' somethin'.

Ok, new topic. I found some calico iron on letters. The white is the back of them and you can see what color the calico is from the rest of the square. This is all there are so I need to figure out a series of words that use up all of the letters. I am a waste not, want not kind of a person and having a few orphan letters is just going to kill me. So if any of you are word puzzle kind of people, help me out here!

And now I leave you with a convocation of bad guys waiting for their comeuppance.

I am not a philisophical person.

2007-06-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted or crafted. I did make a baby blanket last week for a shower but I had to rush out the door clipping threads to get to the shower late--so no picture.

I rearranged a little in my studio and got it all cleaned up but I have been snowed in with this class. My first graduate course and let me tell you I am not impressed! It is an internet course--which should have been my first clue--how do you do an ethics class online? Well in this case you do it by requiring the class to meet in groups and do all the work in groups (group paper anyone?). Mix this together with a five week course. At first I was sick with worry, 'it will be so hard' I thought, 'my first graduate course I won't be able to keep up' I said. Ha! So I have to read the whole textbook but I don't actually have to prove that I did (I am reading!) All of the assignments (two papers and some discussion questions) are group assignments. We do have to participate in a one hour chat session with the instructor, which I did. One hour of blather and sentence fragments--I couldn't even think of anything to say because the topic was so inane and self explantory. Ay yi yi! What have I done???! I just cannot believe I have paid almost a thousand dollars for this.

So I am signed up for the fall.

I am taking this course because I need a career or a skillset. My art degree is not cutting it. I don't really want to work a 9 to 5 job. I stay home with my kids now which has been a blessing but my giant brain needs some stimulation--hard problems, ethical dilemmas, other people interaction. I have a really hard time making friends and so many people seem to have no time to do anything anymore but attend to their jobs and kid's schedules. Busy, busy. I guess I am busy too but so often it is not a good kind of busy--it is a 'driving across town again in the cauldron we call home' kind of busy. It's a 'I have to clean the guinea pig's hay off the floor again' kind of busy.

So now this is turning into a whiny kind of post and I did not mean for it to be--looking inside myself right now I feel pretty good. Or at least not unhappy. Sigh. All of my life I have felt that there must be something more exciting than this. Of course, there is, but not without giving up some other things that I have come to rely upon.

Clearly I need to see a therapist.

Anyways, my plan is to put together a few things this weekend to put in my shop (something not baby or bag related). I am still ironing out the details but it is something that I have wanted to do for a long time, so time's up people!

Studio improvements

2007-06-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I live in Arizona, the land of the blazing sun. The house we bought is fairly large and on half an acre. However, the previous owners were very averse to yardwork and apparently anything green. So our yard is a half an acre of gravel (even though the house is 30 years old). We are slowly putting in trees and I am jealously guarding any wild ones that spring up (which means the previous owners were assiduously ripping them out because we have several). In our backyard I have my studio--400 square feet of space with air conditioning but no water. There is a concrete patio but it is in the full afternoon sun so we were not getting much use out of it and the studio itself was very hot in the summers.

Enter my father-in-law and a pile of wood. Here you can see the beginnings of work (and my view)

The end of the second days work.

The framework is done and Mr. Plum is priming (I was helping too!)

The roof is going on, there you see Father-in-law Plum. Isn't the roof lovely?

The kids are already enjoying the shade.

I have to touch up the paint in a few places and put up some fun lights and soda can flowers (and wait for the camera batteries to charge) then I will put up a finished picture. And then I need to have a party!

That's 200 more square feet of shade in the yard folks!

Tagged!

2007-05-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

I have only been reading other peoples blogs for a few months and only three days ago discovered Google Reader. My blog list is very long and I was starting to get discouraged that I would be able to keep up with them all. I only started this blog a couple of months ago and have been reading how other people get tagged and tell their weird stuff. Well now I have been tagged by Beth over at ModernJax. So here are my:

Seven strange things:
1. I was voted ~Most Talented~ my senior year in high school and back then I felt it was totally justified. This year is my 20 year reunion and I am feeling less confident that I have lived up to their expectations. Then I think "heck yeah, I'm talented".....I'm just not famous yet.

2. I do not like to taste food as I am cooking (with the exception of cookie dough and frosting). The result is usually woefully under salted/seasoned. I also will not eat a dish that I made if I had to handle the meat too much. Like if I had to chop up a whole chicken then I make the whole dish and serve it, and then I have cereal for dinner.

3. I do not like raw tomatoes except in fresh salsa, but they can't be mushy. Once, when I was thirteen, I was invited over to my elderly sunday school teacher's house for brunch. Just me. She served lots of peeled tomatoes with thousand island dressing and crab salad on bread which was then toasted with cheese on top. I ate more thousand island dressing on those tomatoes than I have eaten in my whole life since. Those crab toasts were not so hot either.

4. If I could only have one type of food for the rest of my life--it would be Thai. mmmmmm.

5. I tend not to be creative, or want to be, unless I am very busy--I need interaction in order to create.

6. My favorite series of books in the whole world are the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books. I am always stunned to meet people who haven't read them or don't appreciate them. Then I discovered that many people think that they are an adolescent male thing. Sigh. I doubt an adolescent male really understands what he is reading. If you doubt the brilliance of Douglas Adams, check out Last Chance to See. That is his masterwork and is not even science fiction. (Ok, so I have no idea why this is so giant, sorry)

7. I have hearing aides but I hate to wear them so you'll just have to speak up.

Now I have to tag 7 other people. That is gonna be tough because I cannot think of anyone that hasn't been tagged. I guess I will post this and do some research and get back to you. I have more to say but it will have to wait.
Cheerio.

Swap-bot strikes again

2007-05-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I hope this fulfills my obligation for Cheryl. I will elaborate more later but blogger is eating my words.

Be still my heart.

2007-05-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

I picked up this shirt for my little one at the thrift store ($1), and I cannot get enough of it!! It looks to be in never washed condition and the greatest thing is, he has worn it for three days straight!
The flowers are silk screened on and have that plasticky feel, but the fabric is a nice weight to carry it off.
The shirt was made in Brazil and has this great tag--I don't know if it is Brazilian or made for the American market. (just checked--it's Brasilian!)

On a side note, I took the entrance exam for math and passed!! I don't have to take any extra classes to get into the statistics class--YAY!!!!!! (way too many exclamation points--sorry).

So now I will take one elective for grad school this summer, probably Ethics for Social Workers, (seems like that should be mandatory (?!))

Alas, now I have to clean house so that a number of people can come over and have dinner tomorrow night. I am making the Cook's Country version of simplified Pasta Primavera. I would give you the link, but apparently you have to buy the magazine.

Miscellaneous........

2007-05-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

Look at all the lovely things I got from Laura . This was the pink and brown swap and she went the mini spa way--very lovely. There was also chocolate but that disappeared fairly quickly!

Here is the first of several zipper bags for my shop. Through the years of thrifting I have accumulated many, many zippers. Especially metal zippers. I have used a few in clothing but I have a rather large selection of nylon zippers too. Here is my solution. Check the shop for more pics.

And now onto my recent thrift acquisitions!!

A nice bit of upholstery fabric that was in a bag with other stuff.

A gorgeous big piece in yellow and orange--I have a bit of this in blue and green too!

This fantastic plaid is wool. Need I say more?

I just can't get enough of orange and green and gingham checks!

Ahhh, lovely. Now I need to sew, sew like the wind!!

Swaps, grad school, whatever

2007-05-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a not too great picture of the things I received from the Crafty Daisies summer swap. Alice sent this great pile of stuff--shells, buttons, balloons, books and more. The felted purse and the rainbow box are especially lovely. Thank you Alice !

So, I have made the decision to go to grad school.

My biggest stumbling block is a stupid statistics class I have to finish before January. Now, I went all the way up to calculus in high school, but that has been 20 years. How hard can it be?, I ask myself. Well, let me tell you, if you do not use double variable equations, exponents and who knows what all else, on a regular basis--let's just say, they are nowhere to be found in my brain.

It looks like I have to take bonehead algebra at the community college just to be able to take the statistics class. Sigh. Quite a blow to my pride.

Topic change..........Swap-bot...........

has anyone tried this? I signed up for a couple and am now regretting it. I sent one off and have another one to do. Bleahgh I don't know why I do this, I get all enthused about swapping and then go and overobligate myself. I shall now limit myself to swaps that I happen to find by accident on the blogs that I read--at least then I have something in common with a potential partner. Plus they won't be happening so often. The rules over on swap-bot are kind of a joy kill anyways.

I got in !!

2007-05-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

I got accepted to the Masters of Social Work program at ASU.

I have 6 days to decide if I am going to take the position.

My youngest will still be in preschool next year and my others will be in two different schools that are a bit of a drive from home. Is next year mine or theirs?

I did get accepted to the part time program so it isn't a brutal program, but it is three years and about $15,000. When I am done I will have to work at least part time to pay it all back. My dear Mr. Plum (good name for him?) pays my student loans now.

A full blown rose

2007-04-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

My husband transplanted the rose bushes a few weeks ago andwe have one large and lovely bloom. Something or someone has been pruning the other bushes in the dead of the night so they have yet to produce, but they are trying!

I have had a sale in my shop!!! My dreams of fame and fortune are coming to fruition!!!!

Ah well, not likely, but I have some items for an update and I am desperately trying to find time to get some more sewing done. One more week of school for me and then some real chunks of time to work.

A blanket for that baby with a flair for the dramatic--check the shop tomorrow for more shots.

Heads up

2007-04-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

Rete is giving away a skein of yarn to a commenter this week. "One random winner will receive a skein of Louet Gems in their favorite color." I don't knit but, my husband does and I am plotting how he will make me some lovely socks if I win. Skip on over and sign up.

Etsy shop is open!!

2007-04-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

So there it is --------------------------------------------------------------------->

The shop is open and I am waiting to see who gets the first item......

Well, where is everybody?

I kid, I kid.

It seemed to take forever to get it all up and, because I had hit my deadline, I posted unimproved pictures. If you read the descriptions of each item you will see that I got better with each posting. All in all not a bad experience.

I have been dithering about doing something like this for a long time (joined Etsy in 2005(!)). But the counselor at the school my daughter will attend next year talked to us parents about how procrastination is just a way to avoid failing, so I decided to just bite the bullet and jump in.
(Just to mix a few metaphors--ack!!)
Please, everyone who reads this, tell your friends (whom you think might have an interest) to check it out--self promotion is my achilles heel.

I am also interested to know what kinds of things you all buy on Etsy and what you might like to see--looking for more ideas of what to make. I want to stick to the realm of sewing, and thrifted, one of a kind fabrics and trims. Ideas?

Anybody wanna trade?

2007-04-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I have these two lovely batches of wool yarn that I thrifted ages ago. I do not knit or crochet. I think I bought them because I have a loom but since I don't weave either.....

This yellowish, yucky color looks pretty accurate on my computer screen, it is indeed that awful 70's color that is never gonna come back. However, it is wool and could be dyed--a brown could work quite nicely over this. Or, perhaps you just love this color and know just the thing.

Now, since there are only about 4 or 5 of you who read my blog I am hoping you will pass this on to somebody who might be interested in a trade. I would take anything except more yarn: scrap of fabric, a few buttons, a nice bit of paper, spool of thread, beads, pretty much anything. The yellow is 4 skeins, 4 ply, 3 1/2 oz each.

Now this Britania wool is a better color--the small picture is more accurate on my screen. There are 6 skeins, 2 ply, 1 6/10 oz each.

Same deal, trade me anything in the realm of craft of art supplies, nothing highly valuable--just roughly equivalent to a few skeins of a dicey color and probably not enough, yarn.

I was thinking that they would felt nicely.

Jello and greeting cards

2007-04-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

Ha! Regina sent me a photo of my cards I sent in the swap. Thank you Regina! Quivering , dietetic jellos are my fave.

Greeting card swap

2007-04-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here, finally, is the note card swap I did with Regina . I sent in 5 cards, which I failed to document. And I got these 6 lovelies back. Now I need to send them to people. Anybody want some mail?

Several of them have been made with handmade stamps, and that pink one has magnetic pants on it. That would make a good band name -- Magnetic Pants -- No?

This one with yellow flower was done by Regina. They are all so pretty, mine had pictures cut from 60's cookbooks on them. A totally different feel.

Today I get to go to my Paperworks meeting. Such a great group. I think this month we are hearing about the In Over My Head groups. They are people who get together and expand their knowledge in different areas. I am going to join one in the fall. We have heard great lectures from several fabulous artists from all over. Very inspiring. They are mostly women, mostly over 50 and many, many proffesional artists. I feel very young and inexperienced among them but I don't care.

There is also a very large percentage of people who wear that virulent chartreusy, yellow green. I have decided that that color is in the domain of artists, older women, intelligencia, and occasionally thin rich blonde women who wear lots of jewelry. I have a shirt in that color and really like it.

Button Swap Bonanza

2007-04-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Sonya!! Wow, what a lovely selection of buttons--I think she must have a much nicer collection than I do because these are the ones she is willing to give away! Here is the line up--I took this shot outside in some crazy rainy weather, so they don't shine quite as much as in person.Here is a subset on some nice polka dotted rayon she included.

More goodies plus a whole 'nother dozen buttons!!

Trims, bracelet, tin.......it is all too much.

Another vingette, there is that cohesiveness that I struggle to attain in my groupings of things.

Thankyou Sonya! Such a fun swap.

Lemon cake

2007-04-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

So the cakes fell a little.

But the seven-minute frosting came out great.

Here are the boys bellying up to the bar, ready for cake.

Here is a slice on my new plate--pretty awesome.

This is the Cook's Illustrated version of lemon cake. My husband, who loves boxed lemon cake, pronounced the filling to be too lemony (wha?). My kids also did not care for the filling.

More for meeeeee!!!!!

Thrift store bonanza and a Power Ranger

2007-04-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

Grab bag of fabrics and the next couple of patterns I will try for more Etsy clothes.

Wool sweaters that I now buy obsessively even though I can't think of much to make besides Betz White's pincushions, which, of course, I cannot sell.
Postcard that some of my grab bag of trim was wrapped around. It is from Panama City 1960 and has a 3 cent stamp. Sent to people in Gallatin, TN (I have been there!)

More trim (I cannot stop!!!). Four Mikasa plates.

My almost four year old in the "Power Ranger" costume I made for him. (With his Superman cape) He is pretty much unstoppable. :-)

Aprons and how I love them

2007-04-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

So Sonya got her buttons and posted pictures, yay--I totally forgot to take any, even though I remembered, like, 25 times. That was a fun package to put together.

I took the rest of the pictures of my items for my Etsy shop--gonna work on that tonight. My official deadline is the 21st of this month, but maybe sooner!

So, tra la, on to aprons. Like many people I have a thing for aprons. I even did my senior thesis for my BFA with aprons. I have a small collection of thrifted aprons and my mother-in-law gave me this booklet which I just rediscovered.

Inside are these lovelies:

I want to make the one in the lower right corner. The two pockets are actually one big pocket which the instructions say can be used for carrying your knitting. I don't knit and actually don't really want to, but the idea sounds so lovely.
Well, now I have to go clean house.....perhaps I will put on an apron.

testing photo settings

2007-04-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, I will put up another couple of cutie outfits that I took with different camera settings and background. Let's see what they look like.

Well the resolution is better but I don't know about my picture taking skillz.
Here is the back. This is my favorite one of all I have made so far. The trim is so perfect--it was really hard to use it on the dress, but I am training myself to use the lovely things I have instead of just accumulating raw materials.

This blog has now been read by "the public"

2007-04-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have now put my address out to strangers and Sonya my partner in the Shim and Sons button swap said she loved my blog. Now I am pretty sure that there is a bit of hyperbole in that statement but nevertheless, I feel highly encouraged to continue.

So here I am showing you the bag from the horrible sweater. It is really big and I cannot envision a situation where I would use it, so I guess I will put it up on etsy when I get my shop up and running.

I do think it is much better as a bag than a sweater though.

I also went thrifting today and totally scored in the notions and trims dept. I had a coupon and got all this and more for less than $15. Actually there is a lot more but this is some of the best.

I keep checking to see what this post looks like and I am completely flummoxed by this setup. The pictures come up in weird places and the text just randomly breaks. Clearly I need to research this a little more. Also I think I need to change the settings on my camera so the pictures are a little clearer.

Projects are coming along...

2007-03-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

I am assembling an inventory to open my etsy shop. I think these outfits are just darling, so now if I can get the word out maybe other people will think so too.

I also have this sweater that I could not resist when I was at the thrift store. (I was looking for wool sweaters) This thing is so horrible, I am not even sure it is good. I am thinking that I could make a couple of bags out of it. Maybe lined with a drawstring type closure?

I would say that the colors on my screen are just as horrifying as they are in person but the ball fringe is actually crocheted.

I will post a picture of whatever I do with it.

I am not much of a blogger...

2007-03-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

I wish I was chatty and cute like some of the blogs I keep up with but since I won't even tell anyone I have a blog I am not sure it will ever happen. Oh cool I just did a hyperlink.

Now I think I will put a picture.

This is a trophy wreath I made from my old highschool trophies, I think it is totally rad but I am getting a cool reception from other people. Perhaps I am showing the wrong people.

Bag Swap

2007-02-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

Some how I got on the swap list twice so here is my bag for Susanna-she teaches preschool so I gravitated to this fabric which was kind of risky. Some people might totally hate this fabric. I think the blue straps save it. This one also has two sections and a smaller pocket with two pencil pockets.

Here is my bag for Cindy in Tasmania. She requested green and so green she got. I forgot to take a picture of the inside but it has a great brown print and pockets. Hope she likes it.

2007-01-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm, do I have that much to say?

2007-01-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

So, I have been considering having my own website for a while now and my husband has been unable to get beyond the logo. (lack of time, my lack of input, general malaise). So I will see if this format does anything for me or anyone else. I need to get a little more tech savvy so I can put pictures of my stuff and come up with some kind of a theme here. Sooo, maybe I don't have that much to say right now.