I made a planner - isn't that comical.

This is probably my favorite finished project as of late. (and probably my most desperately needed as of late...) Last fall I'd bought one of those binder style planners, about 5"x5" thinking 'great, small, fits in my purse!'.

Yeah except that really translates to 'great, small, can only write one appointment per day...if you abbreviate' and that just doesn't fly. I really don't know what kind of freakishly-minuscule-handwriting folks they cater to, but I can't do it.

But I kept using it because...well, because I'm cheap and stingy and couldn't rationalize throwing away a "perfectly good" planner, right? Forget the fact that it was pure junk, and I didn't really USE it. I had an obligation as a responsible consumer to carry the darn thing until we both crumbled to bits of dust, thus continuing the cycle of life. Its biblical, its maybe in Ephesians.

(side note: this will show you what a crappy Bible scholar I am, I really have only a vague idea of what's in Ephesians...pretty sure Target planners are not covered though.)

So finally, I decided THAT'S IT! I'm going to be wasteful! ...because I'm forgetting doctor's appointments! and that's no good.



So I wanted a bigger planner, one I could actually write out b-i-r-t-h-d-a-y in the appropriate day, instead of scrawling 'bd' in a size 2 font. Or actually have room to write out which one of us had a "Dapt215" and maybe even with which doctor.



But...standing in the planner aisle of target, I was suddenly reminded "oh! that's right! I'm cheap and stingy" and didn't really want to pay $17.00 for a faux leather, snap closure, WITH RULER! binder. (I mean, c'mon! a RULER!)



So as I'm bitterly mumbling about why planners are so darned expensive, I happen to glance at the refills. ....refills.... huh. wait.



The refills are...8.5x5.5....kind of the same dimensions as an 8.5x11 piece of chipboard cut in half. DING! lightbulb!



So, grab the refills, head home and cut a piece of chipboard in half, a few coats of a hideous bright pink (why did I paint it bright pink? I'm not a bright pink person by nature?) drilled a few holes, toned down the obnoxious pink with some various patterned papers, and a few o-rings, and voila! Planner! Cheaper and cuter (although I'm fairly sure 'cuter' isn't a word)

I still need to swap out the O-rings for a smaller size, but that's what I had and they work for now!

So color me happy! And a bit more organized (a bit) because now I can actually keep track of what we're doing each week. fan-tastic.

**note** yes, it did occur to me to do it completely handmade and just make up calender pages, and address pages to fit, and print them out. The reason I didn't? ...I'm out of printer ink. And can never for the life of me remember which number I need...98? 92? cripes. I am contemplating making up a bunch and trying them out on etsy though. we'll see.

Softie Swap!

Its not that I'm horribly behind in posting, its just that I was...uh..building suspense! Yes! Suspense! ...I meant to do that...

So now that you're all on the edge of your seats (humor me) I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from the Softie Swap.

I have to say that I had the package sitting on my dining room table for mmm....5 hours? before I'd open it. I've never been so scared of an envelope.

Why you ask? Because there was the fear of the unknown. What if it was a softie masterpiece, the likes of which the world had never seen? In other words...what if I opened that envelope, and realized mine ...SUCKED.

That's kind of what happened. See, I finally opened that envelope and found my little bee, and her little button face, and pretty purple lace, and the red and aqua collar (that just so happens to match the 'color scheme' that I'm thinking of for this room) and her funky vintage body. Lordy knows I have a thing for funky vintage....its a sickness.

She fits in quite well...

But I got over it. Because in the end, I had a great time with the softie swap. ...a lot of anxiety, worry, agony.... But there's nothing like exchanging handmade for handmade.

And now take a sec would ya, and go visit Marianna at stargirlshop blog or even better stargirljewelry. She does AMAZING amazing stuff. Her jewelry is awesome, and her lampwork beads blow me away. I'm currently fawning over a few things. Maybe like this or something along the lines of this (I know, its sold...whatever) or this. I could keep going (summer breeze earrings? Sheepy lampwork beads?) but you can just head over to her esty shop and peek yourself. Its worth it, I promise.

Oh, and on my end? This is the bunny I sent:

Its the phantom crochet bunny pattern that has yet to be published. Except...I realized some days later, this bunny...has no tail. I know this, because I found the tail...in my knitting/crochet basket. Where it is most useful. Of course.

I started out trying to sew a dress that would have this really cute trim. I then realized I know diddly squat about sewing garments for bunnies. I still have the 'evidence' in my sewing basket. I don't know why, I really should burn it. So, change of plans, I thought I'll make her an apron. A cute vintage apron! ...or a country looking smock? Close enough :)

All in all, still pretty darn happy with it. I'm so glad I did the swap. I've got an awesome new softie, and I found a great new etsy shop to stalk ;) Thanks so much Marianna! And a thanks to Simone at Crafty Dasies for organizing this!

The Garden Beat Me Up

So I had plans to finish catching up around here.

Then I went out to weed my peonies. JUST. THE PEONIES.

...and hour and a half later...

I'd weeded the peonies (which was a task, let me tell you!) dug up all of my overgrown lilies (which was a task, let me tell you!) and then started turning over an area of grass between the two beds (which was...yeah, you're following me..)

So, since I'm pretty sure that sometime after midnight tonite, I'm going to lose all ability to move my extremities without wincing, I thought I'd do a quick post while I hoarf down my baked potato I made for dinner.

I found this on Vintage Pleasure, feel free to play along!

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name.

i tried to post the linky thing they give you to link back to each individual photo, but its not working. hmm...

in case you're wondering, since some of these don't really make sense: 1. sarah 2. salad 3. rock island high school 4. blue 5. mike hererra (ok, 8 years ago, but its the first I thought of) 6. pepsi (coincidentally, had to pick between pepsi and coke, and then found that picture) 7. martha's vineyard 8. strawberry shortcake 9. crafty 10. family 11. domestic 12. i had to cheat on this one a little to get any images, I used the 'sarahtakestoomany' part of my flickr url.

Memorial Day Sonnet

I heard this Saturday night on a Prarie Home Companion, and managed to scribble the last line of it down to remind me to find the 'text' of it to share here. After a bit of searching...

We're here to honor those who went to war

Who did not wish to die, but did die, grievously,

In eighteen sixty-one and in two-thousand four

Though they were peaceable as you or me.

Young and innocent, they knew nothing of horror---

Singers and athletes, and all in all well-bred.

Their sergeants, mercifully, made them into warriors,

And at the end, they were moving straight ahead.

As we look at these headstones, row on row on row,

Let us see them as they were, laughing and joking,

On that bright irreverent morning long ago.

And once more, let our hearts be broken.

God have mercy on them for their heroic gift.

May we live the good lives they would have lived.

~Garrison Keillor May 29, 2004

Spinning Stuff

"How I Spent My Summer Vacation" ...or at least the better part of the last 3 weeks!

I got in touch with Amanda from LoneStarArts who I "know" through twopeasinabucket and ravelry. I wanted to see if she could dye some BFL for me, and lucky for me, she happened to have 8 oz hanging around ready to dye. (It was a sign, I swear...I HAD to buy it right?)

after looking through her colors, I chose 'Carnival'. She had it dyed and mailed to me within a week I think, it was fast and I was thrilled. ...and it was soft and squishy, and it smelled good. (Yup, I smelled it. Part habit, and part 'I've received some smoky things in the mail before'. This just smelled fresh and clean. Awesome)

I spun most of this on 'my' spindle. ('my' as in 'its in my possession at the moment', it is not MINE)

nothing like spun singles on toilet paper rolls *sigh*

that's a nickel buried in there, to give you some size reference. Isn't it purty?

---------------Right about here...is where I ordered my spinning wheel---------------

More of that later...

Quilt-A-Long - Week 2

What can I say, week 2 went much smoother. I'm not totally convinced I like the fabrics I chose, but decided its too late, I'm just going to go with them. Worst case scenario, it looks terrible, but its done, right?

"I can always do another" :)

Quilt-A-Long - Week 1

A couple of months ago, I came across amandajean's blog. For a while I just enjoyed reading, and looking at ALL the quilts she turns out. Then she mentioned a quilt-a-long, and I debated. For 45 seconds. And then I signed up.

See, I've made all of....3 quilts. Baby quilts. I know near nothing about quilting. So what do I do? I sign up to make a full sized quilt. I'm full of great ideas like that.

BUT...I figured it would be a good way to just jump in and learn, and there is some degree of accountability in doing it as a group...even if its a virtual group.

So stay tuned, as I stumble along, and try to keep up.

First, we started with week 1's block, allow me to show you -

ok, followed directions, cut pieces, lay out like so. hey! not a bad start!

sew center, sew 'points', ok, still good!

...sew rows together

...and join those to make the square. wooo! look at me! celebratory dance goes here.

all that's left, just trim that sucker to 12.5". alright, line up the ruler and...

wait...

CRAP!

too small. hard to trim to 12.5" when you're barely past 11.5" huh? mhmm...

No idea how I managed that, but...decided to do another, since some of my "points" got lost anyway. So, more fabric, try again -

hey now! not too shabby! Still came out too small (I think its just about 12") but enough that I can just adjust for it later. and my points are nice and pointy! second celebratory dance goes here.

It might be a long 15 weeks.