artsy-crafty babe

quilt love

With tomorrow kicking off Quilting Month and all the quilt love, quilt planning, and quilt making that's been popping up in blog land lately, I've decided that it's time I finished this quilt.  I've talked about it before, it was made by my Maw-maw for my mom, out of clothes that belonged to my mom and my aunt.  All I have to do is finish the hand quilting, which I think I can manage.  This will be the perfect project to work on in the evenings when I'm watching TV.

Look at all these wonderful old prints!  It's neat to think that these used to be my mom's dresses when she was a little girl.

And those colors, wow, they're sure to put a smile on my face!

tie one on

Back in November when Amy posted that the theme for Tie One On was polka dots, I knew that I had to participate.  I LOVE dots of all shapes and sizes!  So, tonight while I was watching American Idol I cut and I pressed, then in the hour between Idol and Nip Tuck I sewed this baby up.  Isn't it fun?  I am so wearing this next time we have a cocktail party.  Wait, I've never had a cocktail party, maybe once I get my kitchen finished I'll have to have one...and wear the apron ;-)

I was really lazy in making this.  I used the bottom of a twin flat sheet for the apron.  It's really full, almost touching in the back because I was too lazy to cut it .  It doesn't bother me any, it's almost like a skirt.  The appliqued dots are left over from another project I did, so there wasn't much involved with that.  All I had to do was sew on the circles (with white thread because I was too lazy to change it to orange) and cut & attach the sash.  Oh yeah, at the last minute I added the orange rick, just because.  Can you go wrong with rick rack?  I think not.  Voila, polka dot apron!

indulged

I couldn't resist, I had to add a little color to my life.  Yes, I am a fabric addict.  Thank you Hancock's of Paducah for giving me a fix!

the funk

I'd love to report about the fantastic weekend I had, but then I'd be lying.  Yes, I'm in a funk.  It probably started with my sick bug last week, but I fought it.  I kept up with my daily challenges and continued to try new things.  I promise, I really was geared up to have a nice weekend, but the letter I received from the Dept. of Revenue for $1500 kind of put a kink in those plans.  No, I didn't really owe them $1500 (more like $18), but it upset me the same.  Why do those types of letters have to come on Friday evenings?  I think they do that on purpose to make you fret about them all weekend long.  Anyway, that started my weekend funk.  I didn't do my self portraits. I didn't do my daily drawings.  I didn't even knit.  In fact, I had the urge to rip out the scarf I have been working on (an eyelet pattern, not the one I photoed last week).  Gah!  Gray, wet, cold January days suck!! 

Despite all that, I did manage to do a little sewing.  I had some deadlines to meet and some projects that needed attention.  I'm still working on my baby kimono pattern.  How's this one?  It's pretty good, but the sleeve needs a little work.  I think my latest version (not yet sewed up) has it worked out, we'll see...

I did start to feel a little better once I got a handle on my laundry and the dirty dishes (and did a little fun sewing), but that didn't happen until Sunday evening.  But guess what?  It's a new week and I'm determined to make it a good one.  It's all about attitude!!  Happy Monday ;-)

gratitude friday

Another week has gone by, a week that went by all too quickly.  I'm sure being sick for most of it had everything to do with this.  My days ran together in a blur tissues, coughing fits and bad daytime TV.  I'm not complaining, sometimes it's nice to have a little down time.

This week I am grateful for:

• finally coming out of the haze of sickness
• my new lovlies from my recent thrifting trip
• french onion soup - it's surprisingly easy to make
• the comfort of my bed
• being almost finished with removing the tile from my kitchen floor (that will get a whole post soon!)
• for Lily's love of drawing - we've been drawing together each evening in our sketch books
• Alex's "I love you Mommy" - he gets out of bed 23 times a night to tell me this along with "you're so pretty", that little stinker!
• having some down time to finally catch up on my sleep
• Ava's little tushy - just seeing that little bum brings a smile to my face

Have a great weekend, friends - give your loved ones a squeeze and go have some fun!!

**sorry for the pictureless post, my internet connection was crap this evening!

thrifty thursday

I couldn't stand it any longer - I had to get out of the house (and I had to spend some money).  What better thing to do than to pop into a thrift store?   Wow, I really scored today!  I found oodles of vintage pillowcases, vintage sheets, and these great old sewing books.  I *love* these books!  I always check the book section, but this was the first time I ever found anything I wanted.  These will be a nice addition to my collection of sewing books.

I promise, this year I am going to do something with all the fabulous linens I've been collecting.  Right now I'm envisioning dresses for Ava, tops for me & Lily, and a whole line of springy, girly handbags.  I should probably start working on that now, as spring will be here before we know it.

Speaking of vintage linens, have you heard about the Handmade Parade's Vintage Pillowcase Challenge?  Go check out the details and put your thinking caps on.  You have until the middle of February to enter, so get busy!  Oh, and if the thrill of a challenge isn't motivation enough, the grand prize is a $50 gift certificate to Sew, Mama, Sew, Reprodepot or Superbuzzy.  How awesome is that?  I can't wait to see all the wonderful ideas this challenge will surely produce!

One more thing - the grand total for my 11 pillowcases, 3 sheets, and 5 books - $15.  Not bad.

greetings from the sick bed

Hiya.  I'm still alive.  I'm about to go out of my mind, but I'm definitely still alive.  Thank you all for your well wishes!  I don't know if I have is a touch of the flu or just a really bad cold, but whatever it is, it ain't no fun.  I'm ready for it to leave my body - for good!

During all my down time I didn't get anything accomplished.  No laundry, no crafting, very little knitting, but LOTS of bad TV watching.  I wish I had spent some of that time blog surfing, but my darling husband has had the laptop, so no internet for me!  I suppose I could have used the desktop, but I didn't feel like it.  Shoot, that in itself is a sure sign that I was sick.

Aren't those cute cards up there sweet?  Lily and her school mate made me some get well cards.  I think they worked.

Well guys, sorry I'm so boring.  Hopefully I'll come up with something better tomorrow after I spend some time in the outside world!  Yeah, I'm busting out of this joint (as long as there's no more fever)!!!

ugh

There I was worried about the other children in the house getting sick...guess who's sick now?  Yeah.  Fever and achiness is no fun!  While I'm resting, the house is falling down around me.  Thank goodness Matt is off right now, though having the whole family away for a while sounds mighty nice.  Oh, and thanks to Tamiflu, Lily is doing great.  She's been fever free for a few days now.  I'm thinking she can return to school sooner than we thought (thank goodess!).

While I've been laying around trying to get better I've been working on a new scarf.  Eh, I'm not too crazy about it. After only  a few rows I knew it wouldn't work for me, but I kept at it, just to see (what else did I have to do?).  This scarf is too dense for my climate.  I think it'd be perfect in a really cold climate, but it's too much for down here.  I think the stitch is really pretty, which is what attracted me to it in the first place.  If I were to make this scarf, I do think that I'd make it a little wider.  So, I guess I'm off to rip this out and look a new scarf pattern to knit, something a little looser.  I do love this yarn!

***sorry I forgot to link - this scarf is "my so called scarf", pattern found here

gratitude friday

Hooray for Fridays!  Hooray for long weekends!  Hooray for happy mail!

I can't say that this has been a bad or long week because I had Monday off and now I'm off today.  Working 3 days a week ain't too bad.  Then, to make things sweeter, I have Monday off again.  Wahoo!  Thank goodness I got a happy shipment of yarn in the mail today.  I'm finally going to attempt to make myself something to wear, but I need to make a trip to my LYS first to get some needles.  That will have to wait until tomorrow when I can go alone.  My reason for being home today is due to a sick kidlet.  Lily has the flu.  The kicker is that she had the flu shot earlier this fall - all my kids did.  We have our fingers crossed that it won't be severe and the other kids don't catch it.  On the bright side, today gives Lily and I some much needed girl time.  Even though she's sick, she's in good spirits.  We slept in this morning and just finished a good breakfast.  She told me that it was the "best breakfast ever!".

This week I am grateful for:

• confirmation that I'm doing something right as a mom. The other day Lily told me that the supper I was cooking looked healthy.  I asked her why she thought that and she said "because it looks colorful".  I guess the things I say DO sink in.
• keeping up with my 365 self portrait challenge.  It's interesting. I'm not bored yet and it is truly challenging me.
• the kindness of friends.
• having a job that understands that when kids get sick a mama needs to be there.
• losing a little bit of weight this week, even though I didn't make the best choices (I'm almost to where I was before the holidays).
• new yarn - new projects.
• a new box of colored pencils and a new sketchbook (another challenge I put on myself this week - more on that later).
• my mother-in-law, who took Lily to the Dr yesterday and took care of her yesterday afternoon while I went into the office.
• a hot cup of coffee on a yucky winter day.
• having a day to stay in my pj's all day long.

Happy Friday, Friends - have a great day and a wonderful weekend!!!

cool!

I am very happy to report that thanks to Michelle's suggestion of using rubbing alcohol on the sharpie markings, I can now procrastinate over re-painting my master bedroom a bit longer!  Yep, plain old rubbing alcohol took the marks off, for the most part.  It's good to know these things!

That wasn't the only good thing that happened yesterday.  Look what was left on my doorstep.  When I peeked into the bag I told Alex "oh boy, the fabric fairy stopped by!".  Yeah, he thought I was a bit nutty.   Inside the bag was an adorable cupcake softie and some fabric purges from Cathy.  Yay Cathy!  She said she was spring cleaning early and decided to pass those goodies along.  Thanks Cathy, I really appreciate it.  I think other people's scraps are so much more interesting than my own.  I've dedided that my studio needs some serious purging, so be on the lookout in the next few months - I plan on giving lots away.  I haven't decided how I'll do it yet, but I'll probably group things in bundles, then offer it up for shipping.  Is anybody interested in that?  This is going to be a hodge podge of stuff - home dec fabrics, apparel fabrics, and some quilting cottons.

One last thing before I go, you all should hop on over to Mary Ann's new Indie-pendence blog.  Indie-pendence is a new blog she started up this year to feature independent designers.  It's a really cool place to discover some great etsy talent, and I'm not just saying that because I'm in the designer spotlight, hee hee!  Thanks Mary Ann, I'm truly honored!!