Favorites 7.31.08

Favorites 7.31.08
Originally uploaded by Tiny House

Some things I'm loving right now; thought I'd share them with the blogging world. Hope you enjoy them!

We're busy sorting out house details, including where we'll live once the house is sold. Everything is happening so quickly, my blogging will be spotty for a bit.

Sold!

Our house sold already! It went on the market last Friday, the open house was Sunday, and we accepted a full-price offer yesterday. Wow, I can't believe it!

So now I have a house to pack up, and a new house to find. In less than a month. I feel slightly nauseas, but I can do it.

I've decided that I'm going to put my Etsy shop offline for the duration of the move, since I can't handle that as well as everything else. However, if you'd like a custom order, let me know and we'll see what we can work out. I seem to work best when I have fifteen million things piled up against me! :O)

Speaking of which, this week, before we leave for vacation at the very early crack of dawn Saturday, I need to:

1. Finish a quilt for a new baby.
2. Finish invitations for said baby's shower.
3. Finish an apron.
4. Finish 2 dog crate pads.
5. Finish 1 zipper pouch.
6. Hem my new pants (it's magic--I looked through all the clearance racks, and was walking out of the store when I looked at a MEN's display table, and saw a pair of women's jeans, in my size, on clearance. I think it was the only pair left in Massachusetts, since I've been looking at various stores for about a month now.) (And I'm short, so I always have to hem my pants.) (Anyway, it's magic.)

I also want to:

1. Make my knitting bag and matching zipper pouch, so I'll have something fun to carry on the plane.
2. Make another shirt.
3. Cover my new moleskins.
4. Buy more fabric! (Oh, wait, we're on a spending freeze. Stupid house sale and closing costs!)
5. Finish my Noro scarf.
6. Finish my Lorna's Laces socks.

I'm very much looking forward to visiting Uwajimaya, Kinokuniya, Pacific Fabric's Outlet store, Daiso, Cost Plus World Market, Nasai Teriyaki, espresso huts on the side of the road, and of course my nephew, who is, by the way, doing much better and may get to go home next week. I also want to see Pike's Place Market, the Seattle Art Museum, the waterfront, and to drive by our old house. And we're visiting 12,372 family members and friends. All crammed into 8 days, 2 of which are solely dedicated to traveling. At least we're not driving all over the state the entire time. But it will be fun. We're staying with Jes' brother and his new girlfriend, so we get to meet the (potential) new sister. Yey! And Eamon will get to visit with all of his grandmas and grandpas, and aunts and uncles, and cousins, and wow, this is going to be another whirlwind trip. Well, I suppose that's what we do best.

I am obsessing over the Denyse Schmidt for Free Spirit Katie Jump Rope fabric line. And Flea Market Fancy. But that one's out of print, and proving difficult to find and buy. So now I'm obsessing. Seriously. I can't stop thinking about it. I especially love the little sprouting leaves on the green background. I want a quilt out of all the greens, blues, and browns. I'm slowly going insane. I can buy a fat quarter pack of the Katie Jump Rope in the blues, greens, and browns, which would suffice, but I might end up divorced from it. What to do, what to do???

And now I've proven that I have no cohesive thoughts in my body right now.

Feels good to craft again

(This photo has nothing to do with this post.)

I've been working on getting our house ready for the upcoming sale--lots of decluttering, cleaning, and touch up painting. My sister and her boyfriend are in town, which is a mixed blessing. They're helpful, in that they are watching Bug for me so I can get work done, but they are also helping in other ways--this morning I stopped in and the house was full of smoke and the dishwasher had leaked bubbles all over since they had used dish soap instead of the dish washer soap. After I left them with explicit instructions to get everything clean, I went back to work with babies, who spent the majority of the afternoon cranking it up.

This evening our realtor stopped by with her stager, and they moved our things around to make it more appealing to buyers. I also have a list of things to do before the open house this weekend, so the next few days are going to be very busy.

I received a phone call from my brother, who is on his way to Seattle to be with his baby, who was flown to the Children's Hospital for what they think is pneumonia. I'm waiting for a phone call update, so hopefully that will be soon. Please send happy thoughts!

Tonight I started a new quilt. It's all jewel tones: deep blues and greens, mixed with browns. I've sewn the strips together, and hopefully tomorrow I'll finish piecing the top. I want to finish the entire thing by next weekend when we leave for Seattle, so I can give it to our cousin, who is due to have a baby very soon.

Weekends are Wonderful!

I'm so glad it's the weekend. Time for just me and the Bug.

I finished up the sock kitten project early this morning. Here's what it's supposed to look like:



Here's what I started with:



Here's what I managed to come up with:



The little boy picked out the fabric for Nelly's new stripes, and I used an off white flannel for the new body and face. I re-embroidered the face as close to the original as I could. I think she turned out well, and the little boy seemed pleased when they picked up the doll this morning.

In other news, I made my first shirt for myself! Simplicity 3835:



The rest of the day was spent at the pool, and shopping at Kam Man Marketplace and Ikea. I plan to knit some more of my socks (Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock) until I fall asleep tonight. Jes comes home tomorrow morning, so I'm having a hard time falling asleep (hence the late night blogging!)

Dress and Scarf Pictures

Back:


Front:


This is the dress I made for Shona's little girl, who turned one the other day. The dress turned out too big, but if it fits her this winter she can always wear it over a long sleeved t-shirt and pants.

The fabric is from the Robert Kauffman "Beep Beep" line, and I'd be willing to be that the button is Japanese--the cutest buttons come from Japan! And, hello, the propellor on the button moves. So cute!

Scarf:


Flower:


This is the scarf I made for Shona. It's dupioni silk I salvaged from a duvet cover of ours, and the back and flower is made from very soft cotton. The button is wood, from the same lys. The lace trim is something I've had sitting in my stash from years, from a warehouse in Seattle (which I plan to hit up while on vacation!)

All photos courtesy of Shona Blizzard.

Currently, I'm working on salvaging a beloved sock kitty of a little boy. It's coming along well, and will be ready for pickup tomorrow, right on schedule!

This weekend shouldn't be too bad as far as working on so. many. things. Tomorrow is a Mommy and Bug day, so I'd like to head to either the pool or beach (um, weather, please cooperate,) and then during naptime and after bedtime try to knock out some of my WIPs. Jes comes home Sunday (for 23 hours) and then heads out again, this time for Canada. Sunday will be a bit busier, as I try to clean the house a bit before my sister and her boyfriend get here. I need to set up the "guest rooms" ("couch" and "Bug's bed") and work on a bit more packing and decluttering in preparation for showing the house.

Thank God for Coffee

It's a wicked 4:20AM. I'm listening to the sounds of Jes showering, shaving, and packing for his business trip and reminded of the time we spend apart. Sometimes it's nice to have a little time away from each other, when you live together constantly, but during this very busy time in our lives it will be very difficult, for both of us. Me for the reasons I stated in my last post, he because he's away from his family, his wife and son. We'll have to lean on each other through the phone: late night conversations describing the latest toddler triumph, slowly giving way into our whispered plots and plans, until the tiredness gets in the way and we have to go to sleep, and we both go our separate ways--he back to work, me back to being a mom, both starting the process over, until he comes home. I'm thankful he doesn't travel often.

Extra Help

Since my husband is going out of town (tomorrow morning at the, ahem, crack of dawn) and going to be gone essentially for a week and a half, and I have not only a gigantic pizza party to plan, but a house to get on the market, a yard sale for which to get ready, and a vacation for which to pack--oh, yeah, don't forget the full-time job and toddler--I started to panic. So I called my mom, who couldn't make it, but, my sister could. And since I have a bunch of heavy lifting to do, and a porch to paint, her boyfriend is coming as well. Whoohoo! Problem solved!

Yes--this will be the second year that I've planned the Arlington Family Connection's annual pizza party. It involves a lot of pizza and watermelon, a playground, and volunteers. It's really not a lot of work, but when you add it into everything else, it starts to look like a monster! :O)

And, yes, we're selling our house. It's been a tough decision to make, but we can't afford it anymore. Our property taxes were increased recently, pushing our mortgage up very high, and our three year ARM expires next August. With the housing market slump, unfortunately there isn't the 20% increase in value that we need in order to refinance our house before that happens, so we're putting it on the market now. We don't know how long it will take, but we're hoping it's not too long because we need to keep our kid in diapers, and I really don't like Top Ramen: it gives me migraines. Just saying. (Anyone want to buy a recently completely renovated first floor condo in East Arlington, MA?)

Part of selling our house and moving is decluttering. I'd say we've put about a sixth of our possessions in the yard sale pile, and I'd like to put another sixth down there this week. The yard sale is set for Sunday the 27th. We've decided to get rid of all our baby acoutrements if anyone's looking for anything like that. Again, just saying. :O)

Ok, enough of the boring stuff. If you've made it this far, I commend you. I can be wordy and blabby. Sorry.

Yesterday we found the MOST AWESOME wading pool. Artesani Spray Pool in Brighton. Oh my gosh, the kids had a blast.

I also picked up some fabric for a most awesome gift for our cousin's up coming baby! Yey!

I'm also obsessed with wooden spools. I don't actually have any, though. Does anyone know where to find them?

And, I've been getting a few requests about the capes, and people wondering why they're not in the store. Well, the logos are copyrighted, and the tutorial is also labeled as copyrighted. Sad, I know. However, if you want something similar, let me know, and we'll see what we can work out. :O) It won't be exactly the same, but we can try to come up with something. :O)

Treasury!

My first treasury! I'm so excited!

This weekend was uber-busy! Since I'm the Queen of Procrastination, I finished up the dress for our friend's toddler at 11:30AM Saturday morning. Her party was at noon. Today, I finished her mother's scarf at 5:30PM. Her party was at 6. Yeah, I like to live life on the edge. I of course forgot to take pictures, but Shona said she's planning to take some of the dress, and I'm sure I can con her (hint hint!) into taking a few of the scarf as well... :O)

Hello Noro, Gauge, To Do

I want to be your friend. And love you, and squeeze you, and call you George.

No, seriously, why didn't I knit with this before? It's awesome! I bought a skein of it last night, and am happily knitting away on a skinny scarf for this fall. Skinny because at $11 a skein I don't feel like buying more, but that's OK.

Last night I took a gauge class at Woolcott in Harvard Square with my friends, Shona and Jaimie. I finally feel confident enough to start the sweater I want to knit, but since it's pretty far back in my queue, it may have to wait awhile.

In other news, I've finished the toddler dress (pics after the party this Saturday!) I found the most perfect button for the front! I'm so excited, and no longer feel intimidated by the stupid pattern. (When I initially read it, I felt like a moron. Seriously. But after the fourth reading, I realized that I'm not a moron, and I can sew, and it's all good. Problem solved!)

For some reason, posting my to do list here seems to keep me on track, so as long as that's working for me, that's going to happen. OK, here goes:

1. Sew the matching knickers for the toddler dress.
2. Sew my (already cut-out) shirt.
3. Knit my Noro scarf.
4. Finish the hand sewing on my remaining hot/cold packs.
5. Make a new pincushion for my quilting pins.
6. Shirt for Eamon (yep--found a boy friendly top!)

And, if that's not enough to do, I have a bunch of follow up work to do for the Arlington Family Connection, and some household paperwork I've been neglecting.

Cape Pictures, Shop Update

Here are the pictures of the capes. I used this tutorial. They're both reversible. I'm especially in love with the letter appliques--I'm glad took the time to make them with their initials instead of just the usual "S." The only thing I would do differently next time is use a better quality felt--I couldn't find anything even resembling wool, so synthetic it was. And the only reason I'm complaining is for ironing on the fusible web, since that became a bit tricky with the two layers. But that's it, otherwise it's a great tutorial, and for a few dollars and some scrap fabric I was able to make two capes for two happy kids! :O)



I was able to get some other work done last night, after Bug went to bed--I finished a custom order, made a set of toadstool cards, and finished the hand sewing on my buckwheat project. Some of the items are even in the shop!

Today we plan to hit the spray park, then come back for some quality naptime (for kidlets) and knitting time (for me.) Sounds like fun!

Decluttering, and Other Monday Randomness

We spent the weekend decluttering our house. Not a particularly fun task, but one which desperately needed (and still needs) to be done. We have a fairly substantial pile in our basement for a yard sale, and more boxes upstairs to fill. While I hate that we've collected so many unnecessary things, I do love the feeling that comes with purging. That clean, blank feeling that something good will come out of this. Who knows?

Recently Inspiring Posts:

1. Dreaming Eskimos
2. THROWING OUT :: STARTING AGAIN
3. Tutorial Tuesday: Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

Projects on my Radar (All of these are in various stages of completion...)

1. Toddler dress for a friend's baby's one year birthday.
2. Custom Etsy order.
3. Finishing up my latest lavender/buckwheat project.
4. Finishing up my swap projects.
5. Bug's quilt (yep, I'm 2 years late, what can I say?)

Finished Projects (as of this weekend.)

1. Two capes for Bug and Bug II. Pictures tomorrow when I remember the bits and bobs necessary to put said pictures on my computer. Go me.

Japanese Magazine, Anyone?

I am in love with the Japanese magazine, Come Home! I don't read Japanese, though, so it's kind of frustrating that I don't actually know what they're talking about, but I love to look at the pictures and get inspiration for my own projects and decorating. Unfortunately, it's an incredibly expensive magazine at around $15 an issue, so my last order of the most current two issues was a real treat, especially for something that I can't actually read. Kind of funny, actually. I like to think that I gain something from "reading" them at least.

Today we went to a friend's house for a BBQ. It was a good time, with good food. We skipped the fireworks again this year (lame, I know,) but after Bug's reaction to a neighbor setting off small fireworks, I think it was a smart decision. First, after he was buzzed by a (giant) bumblebee (near his face) he screamed (I thought he had been stung, or broken a bone, it was that bad.) Then when the neighbors started with the fireworks I thought he might want to see them, but I wonder if the combination of the bee and loud fireworks was just too much, because he nearly climbed over me to get away from the sound. He had absolutely no interest in seeing the pretty lights. Oh, well, I suppose we have plenty of time to see fireworks in later years. Maybe we'll be home one year and he'll actually get to set off sparklers or something. (It's illegal in MA.) Ah, the joys of childhood--fire and small bombs.

Oh, and my little nephew was born! He arrived shortly after I posted my last blog, healthy, as are Mom and Dad. I can't wait to see him in next month!

Hail? In July?

I heart New England weather! It's so strange to go out in the morning while it's blazing hot, the sun is (sort of) shining, and it's so darn muggy. And then 20 minutes later it's hailing, driving rain, there's thunder and lightning, and the wind's howling. And half an hour after that all's quiet and you can hear the thunder quietly rumbling in the distance. My gosh, I don't think I'll ever get used to it! But last night, as I drove home from my steering committee meeting, I was going toward a storm, and every few seconds the sky would light up with lightning, and the sky would rumble. The wind was blowing, but it was hot and muggy, and not quite dark where I was, and it wasn't raining yet. It was very wild and beautiful. It's a sharp contrast to the thunderstorms I remember from my youth, where you could actually see the lightning trace a path across the sky. I haven't actually seen that around here, but then again, I haven't ventured out much in the rain with the little Bug.

My little nephew is being born, right now, as I type. He's being lifted out via emergency C-section, since he is breech. Send happy thoughts!

In crafty news, I've started knitting a bit--some cuffs. I was a little inspired by Enhabiten's Etsy shop, particularly her cuffs and bracelets. I'm not generally a big bracelet wearer, but in the winter I get very cold, so what better than a little wrist scarf? :O) Anyway, the first finished item that I actually feel proud of is in the shop. I'm also working on one right now, very similar to Enhabiten's Fringe cuff, but obviously for me!





This weekend will hopefully see two finished capes for the kidlets. They've recently been very into wearing their towels and blankets around the house, draped over their shoulders and heads, so I think it's time they become super heros, and have their very own capes. I have most of the materials I need at home, and a quick trip to JoAnn's yesterday proved fruitful with $2.99 cotton to fill in the rest. So for about $6, plus fabric and felt I had on hand already, I hope to get two complete projects. We'll see.