Done!!!!

Been done for a few days. Saturday in fact was the day I finished up Christmas presents. That has never happened before, ever. It's not all the presents I need to make but it was the major ones for this year. I lay in bed Saturday night thinking of this feat and wondering, "Now What?"

Little did I know (or want) the answer to that question to be ... a cold!!! Yep, first thing Sunday Morning, hitting like a ton of bricks. Grrrrr, today it's reached the coughing fit stage. I HATE that stage. The irony is between coughing fits, I feel perfectly fine and ready to get off that stupid couch.

Oh well, it is the season ;) Hope you are all more well then me.

What's been happing this way

I so want to post.

I want to tell about the project I'm working on. I want to show you pictures. I want to talk and talk and talk ... but it's a Christmas present and has to be kept a SECRET. It's so hard. I'm terrible at keeping secrets. Evidenced by the number of people who DO know about it. [And if you're one of the ones who do; DO NOT forget YOU KNOW NOTHING! ]

I want to tell you all about the grain research I've been doing but ......

Ya that's what happens. I just can't seem to find the ....

whatever

I want to show pictures of my latest successes in the kitchen but the camera's got low batteries. I just changed them but still it says "low battery" and then "goodbye"; which is then followed by teeth grinding and incoherent mumbling. Even if I were to go searching for replacement batteries there are SOME people in this house that like to eat their dinner while it's hot. Go figure! You should have seen the look I got when I calmly said "Hold IT, until after I find batteries, I need a picture. (the spoon was in mid air at time of request ;)

Instead, all you get is this. Oh well, Happy Fall

Camping

I went camping with my mom and brother and his family last week. It was so awesome. I love it. Sorry there's no pictures cause ... I didn't think to bring a camera. We put up one section of a huge o'army tent. (20ft X 8 ft) The kids were so much help with that monster. We only stayed for one night. Of course it was cold, but that was expected. I kept pretty warm, just couldn't sleep cause the egg carton padding was worthless. Boy was the ground hard! At breakfast, I couldn't help wondering why eggs, hashbrowns & sausage cooked on a griddle, eaten with dirt encrusted fingernails in freezing fall weather was SO STINKING GOOD! Must be the magic of camping in the great out doors.

About 2 Weeks ....

I was asked recently how long it would take me to make an afghan.

Well ... remember this?

This is what's left.

Where did it all go?

Colorful isn't it?

The Feel of Autumn

The mornings and evenings are chillier; the leaves are starting to change colors, a few are even falling; and Me? Well, Autumn weather moves me to start thinking about creating afghans; that way the blanket gets longer (and warmer) as it gets colder. Here are a couple I've made for myself.

Lighthouse - ordered online as a kit

9 Patch Scrappy

This was done in an effort to use up all the yarn scraps I've collected. This was fun, although on the short side. It doesn't quite cover from toes to shoulders. I do love it for it's using up odds and ends of yarn. I don't like having left over scraps of anything after a project but that's impossible to avoid. So these kind of projects really make me happy.

Side track: I remember a baby afghan I made this way. It had a picture of Piglet with a white background (same type as my lighthouse above). I was determined to only use the yarn I already had. I did pretty good until the last ten inches or so when I ran out of white yarn. All I had left was some off-white. My sister and mother who had been watching the progress of this blanket couldn't stand to see me use the off-white, so they ran and bought me a skein of white. ;) I laugh because there were threats used to get past my stupid stubborn streak. It was a good thing because the blanket looks so more complete with the same color background.

Anyway, this year hasn't been any different. I was itching to pull out my yarn stash with the first wet cold day. I had to restrain myself for two weeks cause of three sewing projects that were already spread out over the family room. (You can't play with the yarn until you've cleaned up this fabric mess ;) The sewing got done over the weekend; everything got put away yesterday morning; and last night I pulled out my boxes of yarn "orphans".

I have had an afghan pattern in mind for a month or so but with all the yarn spread out I couldn't decide what to do without also looking through all my crochet patterns.

This is where it started getting dicy. With the yarn spread out all over the floor, according to color. I found half a dozen projects that would be so much fun; baby stuff, Christmas decorations, as well as afghans. So......

My Chosen Pattern

The original afghan pattern I had already chosen.

It's the "Crochet Folk Quilt Throw" from the Redheart website. It has 6 different colors which I thought would be a perfect use of my "orphan" yarn.

Oh, yes! it's going to be a "make something with what you already have" project.

The Chosen ColorsI didn't have enough of one color to meet the pattern requirements but I did have enough color groups. So I have a couple of greens, purples, a white & tan, and 3 or 4 shades of pink. Total amount of yarn equals total needed for afghan.

Here's a Sneak Peak

Oh, ... I like it, I like it!

Here's to you Autumn!

Think about it

"Trials and tribulations tend to squeeze the artificiality out of us,

leaving the essence of what we really are

and clarifying what we really yearn for."

(Maxwell, Neal A. Things As They Really Are, pg.89)

3 in 1

Rather then writing three separate posts I decided to just combine them.

A few weeks ago I went to the library and brought home 4 different sewing books. Among them was one that I have to buy for myself. It's "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross. It's so full of great sewing projects. I spent the first few days tracing patterns. I would get one traced and go to cut it out of fabric when another awesome project would jump out at me and distract me. So before anything was ever cut out of fabric I had 4-5 different patterns traced. Now it's crunch time cause the book is due back to the library soon. (It's already been renewed once;)

In spite of all the inspiration distractions I have successfully finished two projects from the book.

Heather Ross' Town Bag (I just love how the top scrunches down)

The Fabric was a home dec sample an interior design roommate gave to me years ago. Those samples make great bags, I believe I've have at least two other bags made from them. I didn't like the length of the strap so I ended up doubling it and am now very pleased with the results. This may also be my first bag that made me really think of hardware. I had chosen silver clasps and d-rings. While I was matching thread to the fabric, I happened to place the fabric right next to the hardware. The fabric just screamed for "gold" hardware and boy does it look awesome. Considering how much time I spend matching lining and bag fabric, I wonder why I didn't think the same rules apply to hardware.

An outfit for a little Miss

(who is expected to arrive very soon)

So much fun. This is only the second outfit I have ever made for a child. I believe I have caught a bug, probably a good thing considering the number of little ones coming this year.

A closeup of the top

This pattern is from "Weekend Sewing" and I really love it. There is certainly more in the future. Hopefully the Little Miss doesn't mind having her aunt having a blouse from the same fabric. I had originally planned a nice summer blouse for this fabric. I wanted to make this Kimono newborn shirt so much that I used scraps and actually finished it before the blouse. (Told you I get easily distracted)

A closeup of the Bottom

Which was made from a Butterick pattern. The top felt so incomplete that I went searching for a pant pattern to complete the outfit. This was an easy sew being completed in a couple of hours.

Now I just need to mail it and impatiently wait to see if it actually fits, if the fabric is soft enough or not, whether the pants will be too large, or the shirt too small.... Although my second outfit, it's the first to be worn. Really my only experience in dressing a baby is as an Aunt, so I just used what the parents had already picked out. I'm sooo nervous ;)

A Riddle

Ever hear of the riddle about a farmer that had to cross a body of water with a chicken, fox and a bag of feed. And he can only take one at a time across. Well, just the other day I came across a similar experience:

A lone driver has to get two cars from apartment #1 over to apartment #2 which is located 3 miles away. It's 95 degrees out and there is only one driver to do this. How do you do it?

Well all I could come up with was the only driver gets into car #1 and drives it a block, parks and walks back to car#2 where she then drives it two blocks, parks and walks back to car#1. Leapfrogging the two cars every block or so, the lone driver finally arrives at Apartment#2.

So what do you think?

Thankfully, the driver had a sister and brother-in-law come to the rescue where they drove one car and she drove the other so technically the driver never had to prove whether this was the right answer to the riddle.

Book Challenge update

It looks like May was the "linking book" reading Challenge. The last book linked to was "The Vicar of Wakefield". That book led me to reading Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility. It's been awhile but I enjoyed the reread. I chose it cause characters in "The Vicar" reminded me of Marianne and her romantic "sensibilities".

So that ends my linking books for now. I'll keep reading but probably won't be able to do as much cause the summer just got crazy for me, at least June is that way.

I don't have as much access to a computer so I probably won't be posting as much either. I'll try to keep the reading list updated but that's about all I can promise. Hope you all have a fun summer.

Linking Books

2010 Summer Reading
"Linking Books"

This reading challenge has kind of developed on it's own, and is loosely associated with a "game" my sisters and I played with choosing what movie to watch one night. (A little like the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but having nothing to do with Kevin Bacon). While watching the one we finally picked we recognized a secondary actor who played in another movie we had. So from then on we tried to see if we could find a link between our movies. We did pretty good, I'm not sure how far we got, but it was interesting while it lasted. I'll have to check with my sisters to see if we made it to 6 movies or not.

As is often the case, it was the 2nd & third book that showed me I had a good start to my "Six Degrees of Links" ;)

1 - The Beginning
"Our Path of Duty" Keith B. McMullin May 2010 Ensign
While listening to this talk, I was reminded of John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim Progress" and wondered how it described "a path of duty".

2 - The Pilgrim's Progress
by: John Bunyan
(New Read)
An excellent read, although taken slow if you look up all the scripture references he gives. Which I recommend you do. I even found a couple of typos where the printer got the reference backwards. (The verse was really the chapter & the chapter was really the verse). I even added a few of my own references in the margins.

3 - Little Women
by: Louisa May Alcott
(Re-read)
The Pilgrim's Progress plays a significant role with the March girls. The preface to the book is a quote from "The Pilgrim's Progress". I've read this book a number of times and dearly love reading about Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. My mom must of loved this book to cause guess which sister I was named after. Really truly! This reading was so much more wonderful, cause I know had the background of reading Bunyan's book and could understand more clearly the reference to his book. (ie. see the previous post)

Link:

Jo is a companion to her grouchy Aunt March and must sit and read to her. Jo, an avid reader doesn't care too much for her Aunt's choices so whenever the aunt falls asleep, Jo begins reading one of her choices. The following passage is from Jo telling her sisters about how their Aunt caught her:

"I whipped the 'Vicar of Wakefield' out of my pocket, and read away, with one eye on him, and one on aunt. I'd just got to where they all tumbled into the water, when I forgot, and laughed out loud. Aunt woke up; and, being more good-natured after her nap told me to read a bit, and show what frivolous work I preferred ... I did my very best, and she liked it, though she only said -
"I don't understand what it's all about. Go back and begin it, child'
"Back I went, and made the Primroses as interesting as ever I could. Once I was wicked enough to stop in a thrilling place and say meekly, 'I'm afraid it tires you, ma'am; sha'nt I stop now?"
She caught up her knitting, which she had dropped out of her hands, gave me a sharp look through her specs, and said, in her short way, - "Finish the chapter, and don't be impertinent, miss. "
"Did she own she liked it?" asked Meg.
"Oh, bless you, no! but she let old Belsham rest; and, when I ran back after my gloves this afternoon, there she was, so hard at the Vicar that she didn't hear me laugh as I danced a jig in the hall, ..."

4 - The Vicar of Wakefield
by Oliver Goldsmith
(New Read)
While looking for some books at the library that was on a reading list I had, I came across "the Vicar" and decided to give it a try. I started and finished it in a day, but not because I couldn't put it down. Mainly because I was afraid if I did put it down, I wouldn't pick it up again. (Don't box my ears yet, Jo) This is the first book I can say I'm very thankful for the Introduction cause it did give me a heads up and let me know all would come out right in the end, if I would just be patient.
"To the modern reader, whose ear is attuned to very different kind of fiction, The Vicar may present difficulties. The pace is slow, the events melodramatic, the denouncement outrageous. The extravagant praise which the book has received ... may be puzzling. ...." page IIIV Frederick W. Hilles 1950 Yale University

Which it was! but in the end, I did have some good laughs and did enjoy telling a passerby "What I was reading" although she may wish she hadn't asked ;) I can also understand why Jo March liked it so much and plan on putting it on my "re-read" list.

Even though this is already too long, I can't end without one of my favorite quotes from The Vicar :

"As I cannot, Sir, part with this young lady myself, for she has taken a fancy to the cut of my face, all the recompense I can make is to give you her fortune; and you can call upon my steward to-morrow for five hundred pounds." pg. 222

Yep, I'm a sucker for a good romantic ending.

Summer's Approach

As a kid I could always feel summer approaching as I looked forward to the last day of school and the first day of summer. As an adult, who's been out of school for a few years, it's been a lot harder, except for one thing .... the "Summer Reading Challenge". Every year around May I start to feel a desire for a Summer Reading Challenge, and not just with myself. I always seem to try bringing my siblings into it. I believe my youngest sister, 'Bubba" is usually the victim. I beg, bribe, harass her every year to join me in a reading challenge. To my recollection I was only successful once. Don't get me wrong, she's an avid reader, just not into my "challenges" as much as I am. (Bubba is a nickname I came up with her, that's another story)

The one year I was successful with getting "Bubba" to join me, I came up with a good incentive, a trip to a local amusement/water park. Loser pays for the winner. Not sure who actually won because the true success was we both actually did a lot of reading that summer (as well as enjoyed a sister's day at the amusement park.) I do remember there being 3 ways you could win: 1) Most number of books read; 2) Most number of pages read; 3) Most number of "new" reads. I bought notebooks for us to keep track of our reading. That notebook as become quite special to me. With each book I read that summer, I would create a page with the title, author and a quote from the book. I added stickers that related to the book and at the bottom I wrote the date finished, and the number of pages and whether it was a new read or a re-read. I can tell which books were really enjoyed cause there's 3-4 pages of quotes.

As I look through the book, I remember so much. Shall I share?:

"The sad thing about women is that they believe so much that a man tells them with his lips, and will not listen to what is told by his actions" pg. 77 "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" Josephine Leslie

"Our return journey occupied two days and was as filled with adventure as usual. We are all becoming accustomed to adventure" pg 100 "The Land that Time Forgot" Edgar Rice Burroughs

"Let in the Jungle, Hathi" The Jungle Books - Rudyard Kipling

Those were just a few of the shorter ones. It's amazing how much my reading influences and teaches me. I even have a page for one book that I really didn't like. There's no quote and even now I wish I could erase the memory of that read. I'll not tell you which book it was cause I know others have liked it.

One page lists two years summer reading, I only kept track of the date, title, author, total pages & whether it was new or a re-read. It's got the facts but no real feeling so I'll not track that way if I can help it.

So what do I do about this year. I have a couple of ideas. One came to me while browsing my parent's bookcase. I started pulling out all the books I remember reading when I was younger. I thought it would be fun to revisit and see if I still enjoy the stories.

The 2nd idea has already begun. It's a result from reading "The Pilgrim's Progress". I remembered how much that book was a part of "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott. Having finally read it, I decided to read "Little Women" again and see if I uncover more to the story. And I DID, for instance this sentence makes so much more sense now. "Mr. Brooke looked so strong and sensible and kind that the girls christened him "Mr. Greatheart" on the spot."
I was so excited when I came to that point, because I knew who Greatheart was and the title fit so well. So the 2nd idea is to see if I can't connect books from each other. That will be a little harder but I've already got two jumping off places. Off the top of my head I have five "connections" already.

Maybe I do a little of both this summer. So what reading do you have planned this summer and how do you or do you track your reading. Also are you as big a sucker for "Summer Reading Challenges" as I am?

A Fabric Envelope

As if that wasn't enough posting for one day, I have still have one project left.

I was asked to come up with some "creative" way of handling quite a number of thank you notes for our church chorister. All the kids wrote a note telling how much they appreciated all she had done for them. I thought a box would be nice but a few days ago when I was on my way to ... where else ... the fabric store, I had a brain storm. Since fabric is my medium of choice why don't I make a fabric "envelope" to hold all the thank you notes. And I had the perfect pattern idea in my files. I was even more excited to do this when I found this fabric. Isn't it perfect?

The inspiration came from www.replayground.com and was for a cardboard wallet using cereal boxes. I measured the notes and then designed the envelope to fit them. This was so much fun. I see additional "envelope" projects in the future.

Designing & Finishing

One Sunday in April, I was wondering what I should sew next. I started doodling on some paper and came up with four different ideas. Now this isn't too unusual because my files are full of scratch paper ideas. As I finished sewing a project this afternoon, I realized the uniqueness of this design brainstorm session. Over the past few weeks, I have completed 3 of the 4 ideas. I believe that is a first, at least that I can remember. What's really great is I found an item I needed to complete the 4th item, so that could very well get done this next week. (We'll see)

So #1 is my own design - A Necessity Pouch to carry in my purse(s)
I have a number of small items that I like to keep in my purse. They don't often get used but sure are helpful when I do need them, such as Kleenex, aspirin, lip balm, ... etc. I don't like them rolling around and most pouches would take some but not all. I figured they needed to be all together yet required different "holding" capacities.

So I came up with a pouch that holds the Kleenex on one side for easy access A pocket on the other side.With a zippered section in between that holds the lip balm, aspirin, and other small items.It's a little rough and the pattern needs some more tweaks
but the finished pouch works rather nicely for my needs.
I'm also really pleased that I finally worked and finished one of my own designs.

#2: Tote bag - for bigger books ;)
This pattern primarily came from Lexie Barnes "sew what! Bags" book. It's a great resource to get designing and making one's own bags. (I used the "Tool Tote" instructions)Brown and Lime green fabric. I just fell in love with this home dec fabric from Jo-Anns. I found some lime green with brown polka dots for the lining. I love how the handles look but wish I had chosen a stronger material. It's too soft to handle with two or three books in there.
(no pun intended ... ok maybe a little pun was intended)

InsidePockets along one side.

And a cute little pocket on the other. It's perfect for lip balm and cough drops.
(Is it obvious that I live in a dry state?)
Now for the down side, I made this to carry a binder and a couple of books but this makes it too heavy. I blame the handles, along with being too lightweight, they are long enough to sling over the shoulder but cut in to the shoulder if the bag is heavy. I'll use it for now but will probably move it over to a knitting/crochet bag. (Yarn is bulky but not heavy)

#3: Billfold - aka Checkbook Cover
My checkbook cover has finally given out after 11 years.

In my idea files I had a couple of instructions on how to make a checkbook cover, one from about.com and another from sewingmamas.com . Both pretty simple, but if I was going to make one, I had a couple of design changes to make.
Most importantly, I wanted a place for a pen and pencil!

Outside Recognize the fabric?
The Brown ribbon tie was a last minute addition. I'm liking how it closes everything up nice and snug but am not sure how annoying it may be getting in and out. So we shall see if it stays or gets cut later.
With all the layers, binding the edge was the best chose to finishing the raw edges.

InsideRibbons to hold the check register pages, now I can get rid of the paperclip I've been using all these years. I wasn't sure which side I would have the register on so I put ribbon on them both just to be safe.
You have no idea how happy those pen and pencil pockets make me.

Looking over this post, I realized something ... I really hate digging for pens. ;)
Oh, and fabric makes me happy!

A Bag for Blue & Brown days

In February I came across some pretty brown and blue fabric that I thought would make a nice purse. I chose another wonderful pattern from Lazy Girl Designs.

The "Towne Purse"
What made this color/fabric choice even better was I found these buttons at Jo-Ann's.
They are a blue background with brown flowers.
(sorry for the picture quality- Think it's time to take a photography class?)

The straps are short so the purse tucks under my arm. I love the size, which holds all my usual purse stuff, but also has room for a book (very important to me).
It also has about 9 pockets along the inside, which is really nice cause I hate digging for pens, and all the other small items I can't leave home without.