Treasury Love

Treasury!





And in case you miss it (and quite honestly, so I can come back and dork-out anytime I want)

The Christmas letters in the upper left, those would be mine! Its sickening how much this excites me...really.

As an aside, I totally love this treasury, even if I wasn't in it. I'm kind of in love with that yellow lately.

I lost November

I swear it was just November 1st. Right? Am I crazy? And now its the end of November. Tomorrow I'll be 28 weeks pregnant (for those not fresh on their pregnancy info, its 40 weeks total - give or take - which leaves me with 12 weeks left) And as much as I was hoping November and December would go quickly, this is a bit faster than I had in mind.

This last week I'm cycling between

"TWELVE WEEKS???? 12 more weeks?" and

"TWELVE WEEKS??? what do you mean only 12 weeks?"

It depends on what pants I'm wearing (where am I going to put 12 more weeks of baby??) and how many baby related sewing projects I add to my list (pregnancy does something to your ability to judge time required for these things. I have about 2 years of sewing planned that I seem to think I can do in 8 weeks?)

I'm going to try to take a 'belly shot' tomorrow. I originally planned to do the week by week documentation of this pregnancy. Then I thought month by month. Annnnd now I'm 2/3 of the way through and I'm hoping to take the FIRST picture tomorrow. So that plan was a big FAIL. Ah well.

Moving on to what I *have* accomplished in the last few weeks: (keeping in mind the pictures are terrible. Lighting has been junk lately, and I got tired of waiting. I was also too lazy to edit them to try to help the situation.)

My first example of "I don't knit nearly as fast as I apparently think myself able"

I won't post any other info on this until after Christmas. Let's just say I planned to have it done by now, its a gift, and it needs to be finished, washed/blocked, and shipped all in the next 3 weeks. Which...is totally do-able. But since my PLAN was to be done already, its making me panic about 37%.

This is just a random picture because if I get the camera out, I *have* to take a picture of him, and show him the back of the camera to see. Plus....he's freakin' adorable. So there. (he's smiling funny because he kept insisting I take a picture of the inside of his mouth, when I wouldn't, he gave me this goofy smile instead)

I actually hate this card. BUT...I made it. And it was one of those days where I had to *make* something, anything, even if it was fugly. I felt better.

This has no picture yet. (Which, would seem obvious without me pointing it out...duh Sarah) This is another "don't like it" but I've been trying to force myself to just make something without spending days over-analyzing, re-doing, and driving myself crazy trying to make it 'perfect'. Kind of a 'just sit down and do it' challenge for myself.


Play-mat/quilt top #1

Play mat/quilt-top #2

Play mat/quilt-top #3 - this one is basted, and partly quilted. But then I realized my machine quilting was T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E. so I'm ripping it all out (that's not true, I'm PROCRASTINATING ripping it all out, because ripping it all out is tedious and maddening).

Doll quilt that will be in the etsy shop. Hopefully with quite a few other items by this weekend. Love etsy. HATE writing descriptions. Bah.

Another random page I made a few weeks back. Inspired by a sketch from
sketchy thursdays. I never used to use sketches, but I've found them helpful getting me jump-started back into scrapbooking. (I didn't do much with it for about 2 years) Most of the time I start with a sketch, but end up tweaking and moving things that in the end you'd never recognize the two were related. This one was pretty straightforward.

This was a pillow I made for some friends that just had a baby. I screwed up on it (when don't I?) and its a little 'snug' top to bottom, but I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out. The color is lighter in real life...

'baby robin' as their last name is robin. a little corny maybe, but embroidery makes corny ok.



Another baby gift. Play mat/quilt. It was supposed to be gender neutral, and came out a little heavy on the boy side...oops. Since then, said baby has made HER entrance. Hopefully she likes blue!

There's also a baby sweater I COMPLETELY forgot to get a picture of, and a sweater I made for myself that needs buttons. Then I can start on that ambitious baby list =P

5 years

Yesterday marked 5 years since my mom died. The picture above was the night Zach was born, he was about 12 weeks old when she passed. I hesitated to post about it here, because it makes people feel awkward and like they have to say something comforting. So don't. :) Its just weird to think its been FIVE years. Sometimes it feels like it was forever ago, and other times I can't believe its been that long. Thanksgiving was always HER holiday. (Literally, I think she'd have drawn blood if anyone else tried to host!) So thanksgiving is its own reminder.

But this year it really occurred to me that she's not there. I do ok - I loved my mom, but we never exactly saw eye to eye - but seeing Zach grow up, and knowing he's missing 3 grandparents (Eddie's parents both passed away about a year and a half before my mom) is weird. And not that he's lacking. His papou and yaya pretty much adore him, and we're fortunate that even though they live 2,000 miles away, he's very aware of who they are and that they love him. We also are blessed to have aunties - both mine an Eddie's - who've taken on a 'grandma' role. They have his pictures on their fridge, and feed him junk food just because he asked, and have a stash of toys for him to play with. He does ok :)

Its just weird to think its been that long. And in case you're wondering, she had a form of cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. If you think "wow, that's a shi**y disease" (and it is) and want to throw a couple bucks into research you can do that here: donate. And if you don't, that's cool too. I know there are about 400 charities, groups and foundations I'd love to support if I had the funding and we can't do them all.

(A few off the top of my head: charity: water, Mother's Milk Bank of Iowa, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital)

I really have no end to this post...so I'm done. :)

What I've been up to lately...

...besides freezing. Seriously dudes, its 54 degrees outside (though it "feels like" 49 according to the weather folks. why don't they just say 49. I don't care if its 54 if I'm really 5 degrees colder, but I digress) and its a whopping...59 in our house. though it "feels like" ....59.

In the grand scheme of things - not that cold! Especially when you consider Illinois in another 8 weeks and I'll be longing for the toasty warmth of a 54 degree day. But for those of us stupid stubborn enough to not turn on the heat, its a little brisk. Especially in a 100 year old house, when your kitchen is poorly insulated, and the wind just LOVES to blow into the direction of the kitchen. So I sit here in layers...I don't lie: 2 pairs of socks, footless tights under my jeans, tank, tshirt, longsleeved t, sweatshirt, scarf. And my options have been to sit under my blanket and knit, or...eat. Neither are BAD options, mind you. I really can't complain about either, and enjoy both quite immensely. BUT...days on end of those 2 activities will not do me well in the end.

So I thought maybe a bit of blogging since I'm only a few months behind *ahem* I'm still cold, I'm just not thinking about it. Good start.

So what's new? Just looked back to see my last post was in MAY. Crap. Ok, well let's get started!

I got new glasses...

I made some yogurt (it tasted much better than it looked, this was pre-mixing)

Eddie and his friend Patrick spent a good amount of time throwing rocks at that utility pole.

Tractor ride at the Iowa Machine Shed.

Spent too much money on junky trinkets at the fair.

That cup was really filled with gatorade, not mountain dew, but I don't think anyone there would have judged me. Since most kids were drinking mountain dew and deep fried snickers.

I was shocked at what rides cost "now'a'days". He got to ride 3, because that's all the cash I'd brought.

We didn't eat any of these, I just took the picture.

$26 and an hour later and this was what was left of the fair experience. Truth be told, I don't love the fair. I kinda don't even like it. Its July, its hot, its $13 for one adult and one child just to WALK in. And there's really not a lot to DO unless sweating and deep fried foods REALLY does it for you. Me not so much. The animals were kind of neat, but we can do that other places. Bah humbug fair. (But we went, because...that's what you do, and Eddie was working it all week and it was the only chance to see dad for a bit)

My cousin got married. She looked beyond amazing.

See, even with "I just got married" goofy faces they're still adorable. (Plus, birdcage veil + finger waves = love)

I was there. I was a bridesmaid so I kinda had to be. I even wore a dress. And I hate having my picture taken, thus the strained "good god just take it" expression. ;)

Zach turned 5. I'm still demanding a re-count to be sure this is accurate. I'm not convinced.

It says so on the cookie, so it must be.

I really don't know why I took a picture of this, but it was about 40 minutes of Eddie's afternoon at a family BBQ that day.

Bouncy inflatables.

Plus fireworks with the fam (Plus blankets...in AUGUST. it was unusually cool)

Kettle corn before fireworks (he wasn't really scowling at me, although...he is a little defensive about that kettle corn...so maybe)

I spun some yarn.

Recovered a chair that has literally been in our family for...YEARS. We ended up with it due to an eager husband and...guilt.



And I'm makin' one of these...


Forgive the WIP picture, but its not done yet. Forgive the "its" reference, but he/she wasn't giving up the goods. He/she loves mom more than dad. As I didn't want to find out, and he did. Ha ha Eddie, ha ha.

For those who can't tell - because ultrasounds are SUCH great imagery - head on right, forearm/fist middle, and a knee/leg on the left. And really, I won't be offended if you just pretend to see something. Its ok.

And now, back to my blanket, and my kitchen. Because cooking makes the house warmer for a bit. And really helps with that "The cold makes me hungry" problem I seem to be having....

Towels

Hello again! Hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day! Ours was pretty basic - alarm didn't go off, woke up 10 minutes before we should have been leaving for church, decided to spend the morning knitting the last bit of my swallowtail shawl instead. Not to shabby! The shawl is currently soaking:

I know, it doesn't LOOK like much now, but wait until its blocked out. Which I'm waiting for too. Because, honestly, I'm not sure how I'm going to block it yet. I'll probably have to pin it to the bed and hope it dries by the time we want to go to bed? Let's hope.

In other - less impressive - finished projects news...I made hand towels. They're pretty lame, but they were a first attempt. Quite honestly ANYTHING was better than the disgusting looking hand towels we've been using. Do you have those? The ones that have been used to sop up spilled coffee/soda, or used as emergency potholders, and as a result LOOK filthy, even when they've just come out of the dryer? We have a PILE of those. I blame Eddie, which is ok, because its true. :)

So anyway, after months of having one or two "ok to be used when we have company over" towels, and a STASH of "please don't make me hand this towel to one of our friends..." towels, I decided to just make some. (this may also have something to do with me being cheap. frugal. whathaveyou.)

So I grabbed a yard of terrycloth from hobby lobby, and made some binding out of the leftovers from the 'vintage sheet turned curtains'. They're wonky and uneven, and cheap thin terrycloth, but they DRY HANDS! So color me happy and call it a day!

I can never seem to just take pictures...

You would have thought he was stealing home plate the way he dove into the shot.

He is awfully cute though.

Yup. That's an amish carriage on our towel holder. It came with the house. And even if I WANTED to get rid of it, that sucker is some sort of uber-super-duper glued on. Sorry for the crummy pictures, it was a very gray day with my sad point&shoot camera. What can I say?

Oh, and for the record, I think the terry was 6.99, and the binding was free. I got 6 towels out of it. Provided, I could probably go to that evil store that rhymes with fallmart and buy some, but this was more fun. And I won't shop at fallmart. That too.

In other news, I will be making an attempt to blog more often. (MUCH...more often) I figured out my problem. People had been telling me they saw/read my blog. People I KNEW. People in real life. Scared the crap outta me. If people read it, they could possibly not like it. Which is stupid logic, because....I don't care. :) I didn't start a blog to be GOOD at it. I just started it for the heck of it. But then I felt all kinds of pressure knowing people were actually going to read it. Like every time I sat down to blog, I felt like people were staring at me. Like one of those dreams where you're in your underwear. I've never had one of those, thank god. Oy. So, I shook it off, realized if they don't like it, I'll live. And now you'll all be subjected to more of my mindless drivel. Lucky you!

Oh! The sheet turned curtains...

I cut it in half horizontally, and then cut each of those 2 pieces in half vertically. Since they had the larger 'hems' at the top and bottom as sheets tend to do, I just had to stitch rip each side partway open to hem the sides, then re-sew the seam, and they were the right size for putting the curtain rod through.

The chair is just my FAVORITE purchase as of late. It was $10 at the salvation army and I love everything about it. (especially the $10 part..)

Indecisive

FYI, I'm messing with blog colors. Having a heck of a time, so I've changed it about 6 times in the last 24 hours. I have things working against me...I don't like change in the sense that I'm so USED to the old, that the new looks 'weird' no matter what I do. And I'm TERRIBLY indecisive. So if the blog looks a little ADD the next few days, you'll know why!

Why my craft room is always a mess...

**disclaimer: Martha Stewart's of the world - now might be a good time to go scrub the underside of your couch, shine the grooves in your car keys, re-write your to-do list because the first was sloppy... Just walk away now.**

**second disclaimer - Ok, I've been guilty of the re-writing the list one. so what.**


The rest of you, pinkie swear you'll still be my friend after this.


This is what I should be doing:



That's the result of Round 1 of cleaning my craft/junk/crap room. I did the keep, toss, donate, sell baskets and got quite a bit of progress made. Still A LOT left to do, slowly but surely, I'll get through it all. The above is *mostly* the keep pile, and *mostly* things that have no business in this particular room. They have a way of finding a home on my desk. Not sure how that happens. ::coughcougheddiecoughcough:: So today's task is putting all of these things in their respective homes. I was disciplined, I was committed, I was focused.





But....then I found some paper. A little pile of scrap paper. Paper left over from something else. Paper that just HAPPENED to look fantastic paired together. Ah crap, now she's done it. She's distracted....

Ta-daaa!

Dear card,

you're so freakin' (awesome)

Love, Sarah

Yeah, I know, parenthesis around a random word - not correct punctuation. Its ok. At least I don't type my whole blog in rndm txt spk. w/ rndm lttrs missing and then inexplicably adding on extrass. Whyy do kidss do thatt noww? I know we did useless and stupid things too. Oh did we ever... Oh right! Card...

For the record, this is the FASTEST I've ever made a card. Really. Because I didn't let myself fiddle with it. I decided I had to sit down and just DO it. If I hated it, too bad! Just had to get done. And it worked. Go figure. I think it took me 20 minutes, and that included answering 20 questions for Zach, and digging through all of my things to find stamps/buttons/thread. (the downside of cleaning, now I can't find anything)

It made me contemplate doing a 'thing a day' challenge on my own. I'm thinking I just might.

Side note, I obviously resolved my broken camera issue. ...kiiiinda. Its still broken, at the shop actually. But its going to run $150 to get the sucker fixed. ::wince:: Not outrageous, but considering I'm saving up for a Nikon D40 (hello lover!) ...most likely used. I didn't want to invest quite that much in the old one. So I got a cheaper point and shoot for the time being. I don't love it. But...it takes pictures, and will come in handy someday when I get the new one as "Eddie's camera". God bless the boy, he CANNOT take pictures. No really, he can't.

Its alright, I can't throw a ball to save my life. So we're even.

Alright back to cleaning this mess. Focus...

Actual Conversation Earlier Today...

Tell me if I'm crazy...


My lovely cousin, Nicole, is getting married in August. She has asked me to be in the wedding (what can I say, my family makes foolish choices...) I am - of course - delighted and honored and plus, just super excited to have an occasion to wear something besides jeans. woot!


So last week, she and I and her mother went to look at bridesmaids dresses. The other girls live out of town, or were working so it was just me. Plus, I'm the hardest to dress, so it made sense to start with me. You know how something can look cute on a hanger or the 80lb silhouette of a mannequin ...but not on YOU?

That's my life. I'm too short, and weirdly proportioned, especially in dresses. But we did find some we really liked. We actually found one we loved - strapless, and more fitted through the bottom. Most of the rest were a-line and flared out - which isn't bad, but we were diggin' the straighter fit. There was also the issue of the v-neck, we liked the v-neck. We especially liked the "no strapless bra required" benefit of the v-neck. If only we could find both in one dress....





Oh...but we may have! So my cousin sends me a link this morning, v-neck, trimmer through the hip/thigh, and chocolate-y brown. Potentially ***IT***. Now, to see how it looks on!



She'd found it online, and I said I'd call the store and see if its available in store. I could possibly run down and try it on tonite. Fannnntastic!





So...I call store, conversation as follows:


*ring ring* (that's my best phone sound effect...)

"Dillard's something-something-sales-pitch-related-to-spring-if-I-didn't-say-it-so-fast-maybe-you'd-understand-it, how can I direct your call?"

me: I'd found a dress on your website, and was wondering if there's a way to see if you carry it in the store?

"I'll transfer you back to dresses"

*ring ring*

"dresses" (with all the enthusiasm as if she'd said "salamanders" or "liver sandwiches")

me: yeah, I'm looking at a dress on your website, and was wondering if there was anyway to find out if you carry it in the store?

"...no"


at this point I stammered and stuttered, because I couldn't believe this was her answer?

uh, I...uhm...well...

"well we don't have everything that's on the website"

No DOY genius, that's why I'm calling to find out. I refrained.

me: well, I was just wondering if you had a way to look it up?

::pause::

"well, if you tell me what it looks like, I can go look and see if we have something like that"

---at this point I was just making exaggerated "oh my word you're an IDIOT" faces into the phone, because I can't bring myself to be rude...even if warranted. Bad customer service is a BIT of a pet-peeve of the husband's, and I think its starting to wear off on me...

me: ok well, it says 'Betsy & Adam sleeveless satin dress' and its...a v-neck, knee length, dark chocolate-y brown...

::pause::

"is there like a description? because you're not giving me very much to work with.."


right here is where I lost my 'polite' mode and started my
'OH YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME..."rant as I hung up. There was more, but I think I'd hung up before she heard the lesser desirable parts, which were pretty tame, but still....


Now, aside from giving her the brand name, material, and what *I* would consider a decent general description for AT LEAST a visual scan of the room, I'm not sure what else she wanted. Sassy? Breathable? Perfect for a night out on the town? I'm not an ad agency, I don't write the stuff, I just want you to tell me if you have a dress that looks SIMILAR to what I've told you.


here's the picture in case I've presented you with a visualization challenge.

I'm sure you were envisioning something ENTIRELY different, right?

Needless to say, I'll be heading to Dillard's later this evening to look for myself. Fingers crossed.

Back to it

So in the midst of our chaos, the holidays (we were both working like crazy) and the energy/motivation zapping effects of 40*below weather....I have actually been making a few things.

..though I'm telling you, that weather...is murder. I lose all ambition to do anything important after 4pm. April can't come fast enough, and that darn groundhog and I are gonna have words.

I've been searching for something to put up on our walls. And at the same time, I've had these canvases sitting on my shelf for probably a year now. Yeah, a year. What can I say, painting scares me. Notice I didn't really PAINT anything, aside from letters.

I wish I could paint. I'd still like to try, but at this point, I'm better at sticking things to other things...like above.

This fish was actually part of some dangly bit of nonsense on a pair of shorts I bought last summer. Ya know those things that don't make any sense, but they put on to look like some sort of accessory? (which means, yes, I save random tags if they're heavy, bits of cording, and charms/bits that are attached to clothes when you buy them.)

It took me 3 tries to get that yellow right. And I still can't get a picture that shows the true color. The yellow is brighter, and the blue isn't so blue. A bit more sea green. I would try to take a second set of pictures, but my camera is now broken. Mhmm....yeah. Not real happy about that.

But I am pretty happy about this. Even though I hated it all of yesterday afternoon after I'd finished it. Its not quite what I had envisioned when I started, and I'm not liking the brackets after all, and I'm pretty disgusted with my 'handwriting' after the first line. BUT...I still like it, go figure. Because its done. Because it has a some of my favorite fabric leftovers that got some use. Because of the little fish. and because I think this might be one of my favorite quotes ever.

and also because...I finally have something to put up on my wall. That's a bonus.

Hope its warm where you are! And just to be clear, anything over 35 counts as "warm" to me at this point! ;)