A small, yet tasteful arrangement

I ran errands this morning and came home to this.

Going, going, almost gone...

WIP Friday

A new knitting project for me. I finally finished knitting the Grace sweater, but I'm not too inspired to sew it all together. My friend Sarah has been knitting the Grace sweater too, and we both came out with the same problem--the back is 2-3 inches longer than the front. Someday I'll address it and fix it. I imagine it will be in March.

The new project is armwarmers from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book. Decided to do it after friend Kristin pointed out exactly how really useful these are if you're wearing a three quarter length sleeve and trying to sit and your desk and type while and it's just a little bit chilly. I'm maing the man's pattern in a smaller yarn--the cashmere yarn I got from the garage sale a while back.And just because kleas posted her seedum, here's ours. About 2 weeks ago it was loaded with monarch butterflies.

Peep hole

Hen loves remodeling. Our soon-to-be bathroom is making swift progress. We are highly motivated to get the floor tiled because we can't install the radiator until the floor is done, and we can't turn on the heat until the radiator is installed, and it's getting pretty chilly... The picture is taken from my kitchen looking up. Note: I have no actual kitchen ceiling--those are the floorboards to the room above. Hen is looking down at you from the place where the toilet will eventually go, what is affectionately called the "poop hole". So funny to see her little face peering down at you. While on the subject of the new b-room, Holy Smokes! Can I tell you how awesome architectural salvage places are? At this point in our house redo we have become very good friends with PACA. We've bought everything from radiators to wood there, but most recently we hit the bathroom jackpot---a double sink white marble countertop in just the right size and a clawfoot tub with its enamel in really good condition. And we got these things at the tiniest fraction of what it would have cost to buy new. Oh I love it.

What I don't love: picking the fabric for reupholstering my wing chairs. It's too hard! I love fabrics and looking at them, but decisions are too much. I want it not to be too trendy, but to be fun, to be comfortable, yet durable. And I'm afraid I have very expensive taste in decorator fabrics. The chairs are currently in bright yellow (see part of one in my last post) and there's something I kinda like about that, but I'm thinking that the chairs should be something more neutral and versatile. I can always change the way they look with pillows. I'm probably going to go with a gray velvet, but I keep thinking about this. hm. Needing 12 yards, the latter just isn't going to happen.
My day off, aside from the mantis visit, went very well. Beebs and I made the most delicious challah ever. I generally relaxed and did all the fun home stuff. Hope you had a good one too.
Walken shirt!

Renegade rescue

This is what a big kitten looks like after she has rescued you. I am off work today. Beebs gets of school early, then we're doing fun cooking for Rosh Hashana. So, I was taking my rare morning to myself to sit at my desk and craft and blog, when SMACK! A humongus mantis lands on the window facing my desk right where my face is. Yeahcgghghg. I really feel that it was personally trying to ruin my morning. They get me more than anything else. And I know I should think they're cool and good bio indicators and even cute, but i don't. So I got Hen up to the window and I think she scared it off. I kinda expected it. We see one every Rosh Hashana. Happy new year! Here's your giant mantis! Dang fall.

Back to goodness. Here are my crafty arty purchases from Renegade:

I love these resin beads from fernworks. The makers had all sorts of other cool stuff inside too like lichen and beans in grass that looked like a nest
This is for Beebs' room, which is red-pink-white and still lacking things for the walls. The maker, Katie Muth is going to be print a 2007 calendar with more pretty lino prints. It's highly recommended.
Rar rar press does have a site of their own yet, but has some really fun postcards, like these. You stamp your location and the location of the person you're sending to on the US map one. Funny. Convincing.
Girly sweet patches from Carla Sonheim. The big one I'll put in Ikea clips. The little ones will go on something for Beebs. Carla also does bags and little wearable art pins and larger wall art. She's on etsy too.
I called these the weasel note cards, even though makers la familia green insist that it's a ferret. They have a lot of really cute cutout cards too.

Blue and brown bunny boys (for brothers!)

Renegade was too wonderful, and the gals and I had a very fabulous (if busy) time in Chicago. I want to take pictures of all the nifty things I brought home, but that darn dusk keeps coming earlier and earlier. Maybe tomorrow.

For now, I give you the bunnies. The are from the very adorable wee wonderfuls wee bunny pattern. These two are for baby Ty and his not-too-much-older brother, Klaus. I hope they have fun with them.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the scout 50/50 went very well--fun even. I can see racing's appeal, especially if it's local and you know the people who are driving. And no one called me a poseur or refused to buy tickets from me because they had never seen me before or anything.

Bad hat

This morning I passed a combine going down Main St. I've been rural small town for 2 years now, and it still surprises me. It's that time of year though--the corn is brown and the soy is turning a really pretty golden color. It's especially lovely on my drive home from work when the sun is lower in the sky, and the sky is kind of purple and gray and blue, and the ground is all green and gold and cushiony.

I don't think I'm going to make whiplash this go-round. I finished my hat and it looks pretty crappy. I'm going to try again, but not before tomorrow. That would be just too much. Tomorrow evening I'll be at the car races in my town. I've never been there before, but I'm helping the girl scouts with the 50/50. I am a little intimidated. It will be very loud, and I know zilch about car races.

On a brighter, more familiar note, I'm going up to the Renegade Craft Fair on Saturday! Yup, 2 pals and I are going up to Chicago to scope the crafts and hit the rare shopping (Ikea, Anthropologie, Nordstrom Rack, Trader Joes). I'm putting on my fancy pants with much anticipation.

The above pincushion is my contribution to the August-September Pincushion Challenge. The theme was "recycled", so my little cushion is made from wool sweater, old pillowcase, and vintage buttons. The floss is new :-). I used the tutorial on whipup.

Moth friend

My friend Lisa took this photo. Isn't it great? She takes wonderful pictures. I love it even though I hate have an unexplainable, real, and terrible anxiety around insects. Beebs and the rest of us went to Lisa's daughter's pirate party. The moth was a very cooperative guest. Maybe stunned to be out in the day?

Ah, I just finished up hosting knit night (incidentally, not the same knit group as the one who received t-shirts, but a different, second, newer (to me) knit group), and it was quite nice. It always is. I didn't do too much knitting though. Mostly I prepped for tomorrow night's girl scout meeting. That's right, I'm a leader. I will finish the grace sweater soon though.

Some blocks I made then sent away

These were my quilt block creations sent to Suzanne in August's quilt block swap. She's received them, so I can show them all to you now. I got the patterns from the humongous collection at Quilter's Cache. The second one is Oh, Susanna--maybe a little bit corny, but perfect for someone name Suzanne, no?

The first is Carrie Nation, which is named after the woman who got famous by taking a hatchet to saloons in order to destroy Demon Rum. Ah, prohibition. I would really like to do a whole quilt made of these blocks. The diagonal lines that appear when you start to put the blocks together are really cool. Oh, I think it could look sooooo good. But there's only so much time in the day.

That's it for now. More soon.

More bitty booties

Awwww.... another pair of adorable baby booties from Heather's pattern. The possibilities of cute are endless with these things. This particular pair will be going to my my cousin's new baby, Ty.

Tonight was the first night of an upholstery class I'm taking at the local community college. I think I'm really going to like it. We decided I should take it because Elie's Mom brought 4 of her really great chairs with her when she came out to see us a few weeks ago. They are beautiful pieces, but the upholstery is very well worn, and when you're a crafty (and thrifty) person like me... right, upholstery class.

So the class is run by a husband and wife team who will be celebrating their golden anniversary this year. He's been upholstering for 50 years and does crazy tricks like spitting tacks onto his hammer and whacking them into a chair in one quick swoop. After one night I already know way more about furniture than I used to, and I have no doubt that I am going to learn much more. Then in the end, I get a really nice wing chair. (And it is really nice, too. The arms have flat tops as opposed to the curvy puffy ones, which I think really makes the chair.)

Now I just have to pick a fabric.

Mail day

Oh man, we got so many packages today.

My mom and Elie's dad (or more accurately, Elie's thoughtful stepmom, Betsy) both sent Beebs boxes of school clothes, which I don't need to say, is just so nice. And they're really cute things too! My mom sent a bunch of footless tights (which is great because I think Beebs officially hates the thick variety of the regular ones). On seeing them come out of the box I said, "Oh, I can make you a corduroy skirt to go with those." And then out came a corduroy skirt!

This month's quilt block swap blocks came from Suzanne. Suzanne doesn't have a blog, but she sent me the really great blocks above. The colors and fabrics are very pretty and lots of fun, plus most of them came from recycled, altered clothing. She also sent along a little pair of button earrings wrapped up in a subversive cross stitch notecard. It is the "Irony is not dead" one, which I think is just the funniest.
And, I finally got a chance to spend some birthday money. This was birthday cash intended specifically for buying craft materials. (Thanks, Dad.) I got all of the above, with the exception the Kokeshi kitty print (which is from stash), from superbuzzy, the new japanese fabric shop. The red unbrella fabric is going to go with the kitty fabric to make a cute top for Beebs.
And, the Japanese craft book my mom got me for my birthday finally came too. I got it through yesAsia, because patache seemed to have a good time with them. The book is great. I just need to make these things before Beebs grows. A large part of me thinks she's still 4. And no, the adorable child on the cover did not come with the book, even though I kind of hoped she would.

So, I think that's all the mail I'll get for awhile. Oh wait, I'm still expecting this Walken shirt for Elie. Red on gray? You bet.