Crafty Gifts

My mom has had two new loves in her life lately, embroidery and shrinky dinks. She purchased a new Bernina embroidery machine this year and has slowly been getting over the intimidation factor. The great thing is that sometimes I benefit and sweet, crafty gifts come my way. She made bags for all of us that went to Nashville together a couple months ago and monogrammed them too (I love the ladies with all their different shaped fruit butts)...

Way back this past summer (seems like a really long time ago since I am typing this with my feet on a heat vent and an alpaca scarf wrapped around my neck) mom got the girls obsessed with shrinky dinks and this has been the craft of choice that the girls beg to do with her any time they know we will all be spending lengthy amounts of time together. Well, one crafty thing often intertwines with another, and she has discovered while looking at hundreds and maybe thousands of embroidery designs online that they often lend themselves to great shrinky dink designs too. This past weekend she and Grampy were super cute and worked on little Halloween themed shrinky dink necklaces for the girls. Grammy found costume garbed bunnies here, printed them out and Grampy colored them on the shrinky dink plastic. Grammy did the cutting and shrinking and added the necklace string and voila! Adorable vampire bunny and frankenstein bunny Halloween necklaces. The girls loved them and hey, it keeps the grandparents out of the bars while we aren't here to entertain them.

Super Quick Road Trip

We have been saying forever that we would head up to Asheville to visit the cousins and check out their new guest house, and this past weekend happened to work out for a super quick road trip. We piled into the car Saturday morning and headed north. The trees in the Atlanta area had barely started to change, but about an hour farther north showed definite signs of fall. We had a planned stop at the Tallulah Gorge overlook to take in the scenery. It was lovely, but if you are in the area the next couple of weekends it will be spectacular.

Our next stop was not at all planned, but I simply could not pass up the roadside sign that promised Goats On The Roof. "GOATS ON THE ROOF!!!" I exclaimed several times with escalating excitement, and Jay obligingly did a u-turn to take us back to check it out. I don't know, for some reason I just really like goats. And c'mon, put them on a roof and I'm there. And even better, you get to feed them using clever little contraptions!

Look at that glee at feeding the goats! Now that's some roadtrip fun. The shrimp were almost as enamoured with the goats as I was. Jay humoured us, but mostly smirked at the goat spectacle.

The rest of the drive was spent admiring the trees as we got closer to Asheville, they became quite a spectacular sight to behold. After arriving we got the official tour of the new guest house (the oldest child calls it The Hotel). I'm proud of myself when I make a scarf, but Cousin Trey builds a whole house! Now that's crafty. Sure, he had a bit of help, but still.

The little cousins even sat still for a picture. Well, for a moment anyway... And this is what I get from the "grown-ups"... That night Arwen made a delicious dinner, here she is working hard. Hmm, where could Trey be? Sorry Arwen, this is a terrible picture of you, but it cracks me up. We also celebrated the almost-seven-year-old's birthday. The next day we headed to the park with some very tired children and wore them out some more playing soccer. The youngest child slept the entire trip home.

Obligatory Political Post

I will be voting early next week in an attempt to avoid the November 4th crowds. It seems like every blog you read these days has something to say about the election, so I thought I would get my two cents in. I am not the type to ever tell someone else who to vote for, I think it is a decision that each person has to come to based on what they believe government should provide/take away in their lives, but I am happy to share some random links from around the internet that I have used to help make my own decision...

First up, the sites that help cut through the clutter:

Political Fact Check

Analysis of the Candidates' Tax Plans

Other Ballot Questions for Georgia

Go here for an in-depth look at Palin's "career" in politics (scroll down to about the fifth paragraph), then try this one for a look at why Obama may not quite be "the answer" for the struggling lower and middle class.

Why do I put an article on Palin instead of McCain? Well, because I think the most important article on McCain may very well be this one.

Which means you really have to take a hard look at his running mate, you know, her:



But then, if you really need McCain in action, this is one of my favorites:



So really, I think it is up to you to decide to vote for either that hideous woman that will end up as president if John "I think women are lining up to have late-term abortions for the fun of it" McCain is elected or for Obama's terrible tax plan, but please just educate yourself on the issues so that you don't go to the polls "decided" like these people:



And just one more because it cracks me up...

Christmas Crafting In October Is So Stressful!

This afternoon I have been secretly knitting on the girls' scarves while they are upstairs playing with their friend from next door. It is so stressful! Every time they call out about something I jump. I only have my furry helper as witness, she better not tell. Of course, she probably thinks I'm knitting four scarves since her eyes are completely crossed. It's hard to keep projects hidden from the ladies when they are often my biggest fans... "oh mommy, that is soooooo nice, will you make me one next? please, please, please!". How many days until Christmas? Maybe I can cheat and give them as Hanukkah presents since this will be our first year celebrating the Festival of Lights.

Speaking of miracles (sort of), look what my rose bushes gave me! They are so happy to have some cooler weather and are covered in these beauties.

The Best Weekends are Fall Weekends

After dealing with a bit of a rough day at school on Friday (she was defending a friend, but apology notes were written on principle), we jumped into a busy weekend. The girls were in a wedding on Saturday for their dad's brother, leaving me free to make some major progress on the quilt I am making for my soon to be 7 year old's birthday. Once I figured out that I was trying to make the wrong size quilt based on the fabric kit I bought it went quite fast. (I can hear you laughing Melissa, cut it out). I love, love, love these Full Moon Forest fabrics by Moda, they have animals hidden in almost all of the prints. Very fairytale-ish I think. Today I will be searching out some backing fabric, I have to somehow get this done in two weeks.

Saturday I mostly spent at the Gwinnett Sewing and Quilt Expo with the mom and the aunt. There were lovely quilts on display and lots of great vendors, it is very dangerous having all your favorite local quilt stores in one room. We definitely managed to do our part to support the local quilting economy.

Fall decorating around here is slowly taking shape, and that, along with the nice cool and crisp morning this morning, put baked apples on my mind... so I decided on one for breakfast. My dad made these a lot when I was a kid. He would dig out the middle of the apple to remove the core, put in a spoon of butter and a handful of raisins and then pour Coke over the whole thing. It was finished off with a dash of cinnamon and cooked in the microwave for about 4 minutes. I didn't have any raisins, but I loaded mine up with butter and Coke, cinnamon and ground cloves this morning. Next time I'm at the store I'm going to get some of those dried cranberries or craisins, I think those would be pretty tasty. I've seen other people fill theirs with brown sugar instead of Coke, but I like how the Coke kind of caramelizes on the bottom of the bowl when you cook it, and it all smells soooooo good.

Oh, and I also must mention that one of my little artistes had her artwork chosen for the spring art show at school (the child turning 7, not the head-butting one). Between Grammy and I, it has probably been completely blown out of proportion, but we are just so proud that she loves to create as much as we do (and a little recognition can go a long way)!

A Week Full of Presents

The theme for this week was definitely presents! The girls were very busy Monday and Tuesday making gifts for Jay's birthday, I've been busy getting birthday and Christmas presents started and Jay even brought me roses mid-week "just because". He also brought me cannoli, but for some reason there isn't a picture of them.

A birthday quilt started for Courtney (including my furry assistant). I can't get enough of these owls and am going to have to try very hard not to steal this quilt from her when it is done...

Scarves started for the girls for Christmas. I thought I was very clever making them both at once, but I foresee a lot of time spent trying not to get the yarns tangled together...

And of course the roses, aren't they lovely?

Randomness and Lack of Self Control

Been a little too busy to blog lately, but thought I would pop in for a quick post. What have I been doing, you ask? Well, my mostly part-time job turns into a mostly full-time job in September and October. Also, I agreed to help put on a charity auction/comedy event for a few hundred people that takes place, um, tomorrow. So, been a bit psycho harried impossible to put up with busy the last few days. So, what do I do when I'm being pulled in a million different directions by job, family and random charity event? Buy embarrassingly large quantities of yarn of course! Apparently I am never too busy to drop absolutely everything and run off to a yarn-store-closing-40%-off-sale-event. Mom mentioned that Knots of Yarn was going out of business (sniff, sniff) Wednesday night and we were there almost at store opening on Thursday morning. And now, my loyal readers, I must confess that I am a bit ashamed of what transpired at said store-closing-40%-off-event. Did I mention 40% off?!!! My mother and I lost all semblence of self control and endulged in what only can be described as a yarn buying frenzy. However, as I sit here with my overflowing bag of yarn beside me, right where I can reach out and grab a skein to stroke and admire from time to time, a sense of calmness and clarity descends upon me, one that could not be acheived with hours and hours of real therapy (and do you know how much that costs?!!!). Yes, I am here to rationalize my yarn buying excess by the pure and simple fact that yarn therapy is worth each and every penny. Especially when it comes deeply discounted. Hopefully this picture of my newly extended stash will help to bring a sense of well-being to your day too...

Merino and Silk and Mohair and Cashmere, OH MY!


I know, it isn't quite the same. My youngest child cried on the way home from school because she wanted yarn too, she has a long life of textile addiction ahead of her.

This isn't all of it I'm afraid. Some things have been left out because of the enormous gift giving holiday looming at the end of the year. The lovely rainbow balls on the left will be cast on next week to begin scarves that the girls will be getting for Christmas (luckily they don't read my blog). They have been begging for scarves, I love that they really seem to appreciate handmade items. Can't wait to share all the upcoming projects that I plan on diving into next week!

The Re-Start of TV to Knit By

Most of the time there are many things I would rather do than sit down and watch tv, but last night's kick-off of the new Office season made me a happy, happy girl. Damn that show is funny. I don't know how they do it, but the whole cast is genius when it comes to delivering an uncomfortable work-place moment.

A little video post in celebration:

This is... so frustrating!

Melissa picked the "this is" theme for last week to try to get us back to it. There are plenty of little things that happen from time to time that are very frustrating, like dealing with an incorrect charge on my phone bill or having to drive by four gas stations before finding one with gas this morning, but I'm going to pick the one that I experience almost every single day at my job for pure consistent frustration. A large part of my job consists of signing people up to take a class. They call me to get the class schedule and then tell me what day they want to attend and I get all their needed information. Not exactly rocket science. But every single day I experience this sentence after relaying the current schedule... "Oh, hold on a minute, let me find my calendar". And then I wait. While they shuffle through the stuff on their desk or in their purse. This seriously frustrates me. While I say through clenched teeth "Oh, sure, take your time" I'm actually having to practice deep breathing and hold back a lecture about how my time is valuable and being wasted. I know, it is little, but it is really frustrating!

Great Dress Pattern

I am very, very happy with this dress that I completed last night. I originally bought the fabrics to make more of these skirts, since they were such a hit the first time, but then I saw this dress on One Shabby Chick and after about 30 visits back to her blog to look at it again I finally ordered the pattern. I kept going back to it because it looked almost exactly like the shape of this Boden dress (left), which I knew I most certainly was not going to spend 40 dollars on, that I really liked. The versatility of this dress is a definite bonus, it could be worn without a shirt in the summer, with short sleeves now, and soon with long sleeves and tights (and most likely the pink cowgirl boots that come out whenever the tights do). Looking at it this morning, the older child said she still wanted her fabrics to become a new skirt because she likes skirts better, but I think I will still make her one if I can find some pretty mini-whale corduroy and will most likely applique something fantastic on it.

The pattern was very well put together and easy to follow. I love how, thanks largely to blog tutorials, patterns are now evolving into step by step instructions with pictures. There have been so many times I have looked at a "real" pattern and had my eyes completely glaze over while reading all the text and abbreviations and not very helpful line drawings. Now if this visual style could just become popular in the knitting world I might accomplish something more than a scarf!

See those lovely buttons on her shoulder (donated by the very generous Grammy from her large button horde, I mean collection)? Those buttons are evidence of my very first button holes! Did you know that my sewing machine knows how to make button holes like magic?!! It really is quite impressive and now I'm not sure why I have been so afraid of them.

Stars 'N' Stitches Quilt Show

Nope, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, have just been super busy the past week and a half helping to get my quilt guild's 2008 quilt show up and running. I was mired for days in laying out the programs and then helping to set up and work the show. The craziest thing about this show (at least to me) is that it was held in my old high school gym! Have to say, never in a single pep rally in the gym during my senior year did I think a decade and a half later I would have quilts hanging in it for people to see. So surreal!

It is pretty amazing how in about two hours a show goes from empty gym, to assembled standards...

to hung quilts. Lots of volunteers and a lot of work goes into all this.

My mom won and award for an applique quilt she entered...

I was just happy to have completed two projects in the last year that I could enter...

The girls were very proud of my participant ribbon...

Here is my friend Melissa with two of her entries...

And my friend Shannon with one of hers...

And I have to throw this picture in at the end here just to show what Jay has to put up with all the time...

during the preview party a raffle was held for some prizes, notice everyone standing around with their tickets in hand listening to several numbers being announced, while I am on the left of the picture doing the exact same thing as my mom on the right side... digging for our lost tickets in our purses. We do this a lot, we laugh the same, we make the same faces, and do the exact same things from across the room at the same time, it's pretty amusing. I love you mom, congrats on your ribbon! Thanks to all the family and friends that stopped by, your support of our fabric obsession means a lot :)

Labor Day

Last weekend we joined my aunt and uncle up at the lake house. I love how the girls always fall perfectly into the lake rhythm... days spent in the water and evenings on the porch, where sunset is always an event.

My two favorite boys even joined us this time. Well, Jack never misses out on a chance to go to the lake, but Jay's weekend baseball schedule had kept him away all summer. We had such a great time that we are returning this weekend.

The girls and I did try a little flower experiment inspired by The Crafty Crow.

For some reason the blue worked the best and the red got a little gloppy. The green worked too, it was just hard to tell because Queen Ann's Lace is already so green under the white tips of the flowers. However, I think this little project would work much better if the flowers went into the water immediately after cutting (we were too busy playing) or if we had made a fresh cut on the stems. At least it gave the girls something to check on every five minutes.