Ahhhh the weekend!

It snowed on Wednesday night...actually, first it hailed and then the snow dusted. It wasn't enough for a snowday - or even a late start actually. But the husband still was nice enough to drive me to work on Thursday morning. The Californian in me still doesn't like my odds on potentially icy roads in my little car.

Here is what it looks like this morning - all the snow is gone because it's been beautiful for the last couple of days, lots of sunshine.

Today I have a hair appointment, cut and color. I only color every other time, but it brings back the blonde highlights that I used to get naturally when I had more in-the-sun-time. Also on the to-do list is to get a desert ready for a little get together we're going to this evening. I've planned some sewing time too - probably tomorrow if today ends up being too busy. I've started to come up with a list of items I want to make to start selling this summer. I also was able to get over to Joann's on Thursday evening to pick up a few things - elastic for the sleeping masks I'm working on, and some very stiff interfacing for making burlap buckets and purses. It will be fun to see what I can do with it. I'll finish with a couple of pictures of a cloth beach ball I made a couple of weeks ago. It was fun to make it, once I'd figured out how everything attached. I am thinking it would be a good project to use up little scraps.

Until next time!

Stamped Label Experimenting

It has been another busy week, I haven't felt on top of anything, at work or at home...hopefully this weekend will help with that. Friday afternoon I'm going vino tasting with a dear friend from work. It is her birthday tomorrow so that's our excuse - though normally we don't even bother to find an excuse. So I thought I'd try to make her gift - I came up with a little bag made from the thrifted materials I found last weekend. This was the first "tag" I've ever made for my new little business. More later about how I made it (that goes back to the suprise I had last weekend that I promised to write about - I haven't forgotton...soon I still promise!)

Speaking of labels, I got set up with a few stamps. I've started to experiment a bit with making my own labels. I don't feel like I've got it just right yet, but it's a start. The picture at the top is one of the labels I've made being sewn onto one of my owls (also part of the birthday gift I put together).

That's it for now...db

Onesies, Onesies, and Onesies

It is the middle of the day on Monday and I'm home...I went to work today and just a few minutes after I'd opened up my classroom a nasty wave of nautiousness went over me and I lost my breakfast. Fortunately a dear friend in the office was able to find me a sub within an hour...she's amazing, the school would never operate without her! So now I'm at home. If I don't move around much I feel fine, but movement is pretty hazardous right now, the vertigo is nasty! The pets are happy to have me here...Figaro was on my lap first thing for a cuddle nap - making it a little tough to type on the laptop. I thought I'd post a few (actually alot) of pictures of the onesies I've worked on over the past several months. Starting with the most recent ones, I kind of made up my own "applique" method. The owl was my first of the three, I like his bugged out eyes, I didn't plan for them to turn out off-center, but as I was working on it, I liked the way it made the owl look kind of nutty in a cute way. The little birdie and the hedgehog are also pretty cute......though I do think the legs on the birdie aren't quite right, maybe it's that the color wasn't dark enough? The other onesies I've "enhanced" were all free-hand drawing done with fabric pens. The ones that are pictured together have all been gifted to friend's babies already. The others are tucked away in my sewing room. This last fall I found myself feeling very itchy to do something creative. I've had babies on the mind since lately I've been around several friends who are either pregnant or trying to get pregnant. It's one of those seasons of life I suppose - like my early to mid-20's when it seemed as if everytime I turned around someone else was newly engaged and planning a wedding. Now it's babies. I don't feel the pressure in a major way, but it is always there in a subtle way. Even when I got sick earlier today, that was the first question a colleague asked me "Are you pregnant?" Not that it's an unfair question, I wasn't offended, it just reminded me again of the stage of life that my peers are in - even if I don't feel like I am. I think if I spent a Sunday morning volunteering in the nursery at church I'd fill my "baby cuddle quota" for at least a month. Actually, even just snuggling with Bambino or Figaro can do the trick these days. They think of me as being their mama. I guess they are my low-maintance furry babies. It's nice that the in-laws enjoy having them over (especially Bam, because that makes it easy for the husband and I to get away for the weekend. The next time they are scheduled to go over to "Grandma and Grandpa's" is for spring break when we go to Brazil. That trip is coming up very quickly, I'm getting more and more excited! I've actually been thinking quite a bit about what I'm going to pack to wear. That will have to be another post...So I'll finish with pictures of
the onesies that I've drawn on. At some point I'd like to take some of those designs and sew them onto onesies. The obvious question is: Why am I making all of these onesies if I don't have a kid to put in them? The answer to that of course goes back to all those babies that my friends are having and to the fact that I'm very seriously considering two things...First is having a booth at a farmer's market/craft fair this summer, and second is starting an Etsy store. I've bought a few things on Etsy recently and I love looking there to see what others are doing. So, hopefully soon I'll be able to say that I have my own side business selling things I sew, etc.

Busy like a bee...

This weekend has so far been fun, suprising, and busy! I started it Friday afternoon heading to a couple of thrift stores in search of material and other sewing goodies. I scored some vintage zippers - several still in their original packaging - a few of them sold way back when for 45 cents - that's exactly what I paid. I've been wanting to try making purses, pouches, bags, etc with zippers, now I have a nice little stash to get started with! I also picked up some very fun fabric, a pretty purple linen and a couple of funky vintage fabrics. A couple of the fabrics are peeking out in the background of the zipper picture. Friday night I cut fabric for my next project - owls! The fabrics I picked up were perfect...I cut out enough for 15 owls, they aren't all sewn up yet and I still need to pick up stuffing for them, but here's a little preview of a few of my little "hoots".

My other project this weekend was to try a new bread recipe - I found it online - it seemed easy enough and was...the bread turned out wonderful! Soft inside and a crunchy crust, yum!

I started the bread on Friday night, the dough sits out (covered) all night as the yeast reacts, it's supposed to sit for 12-18 hours.In the middle of the morning on Saturday I turned it a bit and then let it rise again for 2 hours. The dough then went into my cast iron dutch oven (which had been warming in a 450 F oven for 30 minutes). It baked for around 40 minutes (about 30 minutes with lid on and 7 without the lid). It was easy and fantastic! Just as it was coming out, the husband and his offspring were just coming inside for lunch - we hadn't planned it that way, it was just one of those incidents of good timing. They had been outside for a couple of hours burning brush - perfect day for it, no wind, no rain, ground still wet from recent rain. Bambino (our miniature Austrailian shepherd puppy) even got in on the fun, he loves running around outside when we're doing yardwork or any kind of outside project. The husband reported that Bam was trying to herd the tractor (from a safe distance), I guess the shepherd in him is bored.

When they came in they smelled the bread and we decided it would make a good lunch - with cheese for them and avocado for me (the California in me loves avocado with almost everything). I told you I was into color lately - things have been jumping out at me lately, the greens in this picture made me want to drool!

The final thing that's happened so far this weekend is a very big deal for me...the husband found out that Uncle Sam is being a bit nicer to us this year that he has been before (especially last year - he was just plain mean), and because of this, one of my wishes has been granted...I'll give you a little peek and explain more later (promise!)Until next time! -D

Grosgrain: The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: The Conservatory Overcoat GIVEAWAY!!!!

Looking for color...

It's sunny outside - everything looks better in the sun! The days are getting longer lately, no small thing in the rainy pacific northwest. When I got home, little Figaro greeted me cheerfully - he likes the sunshine too. I love the curious little expression on his face here...I have been in the mood lately for spring to arrive - I could maybe use another day or two of snowboarding and then after that I'm ready to let go of winter completely and enjoy longer days, more sunshine, and trees blossoming around me. I've also lately been in a "looking for color around me" kind of mood. The way Figaro's orange coat looks in the sun actually inspired me to spend a little bit looking around for other color...such as the pink heather growing in a container by our house. I swear it didn't have this much gorgeous pink just last week - the sunny days are bringing everything out!Being new to the blogging world, I have been poking around other people's blogs a bit lately. I came across the blog of grosgrainfabulous and was incredibly inspired, her photography is gorgeous and of course I love her overcoat (wink, wink!) She is definately inspiring me!

On to the next step in my color adventure...the husband has spoiled me a little lately, buying me blueberries as a treat. I've always liked them, but in the last year or so it's turned into loving them! My favorite way to eat them is out of the bowl I got in December from Anthropologie - my favorite store of all time! I get so inspired in that store, it's a good thing the closest one is about 45 minutes away, that saves my wallet!The colors are amazing together!When I came inside, I decided to check on the two little pots in the wardian sitting in my kitchen window. I started some basil there about a week ago...The wardian "sweats" when it's been in the afternoon sun for a few hours. It's one of my favorite possessions, I've had it for about 10 years, it was my first "green house". I'm glad I checked, the dirt was starting to dry out, and it was exciting to see the first little sprouts! About then the husband came home. He'd been to the post office to get our mail today...and in the mail were our passports, returned from the Brazilian consolate, ready to go with our Brazilian visas. Now we are officially ready (minus all the packing) for our trip to Rio! We still have several more weeks before we leave, but the getting the visas finalized made it seem closer!Lastly here is a picture of a couple of the hyacinths that I have forced in a glass container on our kitchen table - pretty I think - did you know they are native to Iran? I can imagine how beautiful the middle east must be - especially when it is peaceful

Organize it!

My sewing room is becoming more and more organized...I love organization. I'm not a neat freak by any means, I like things to be clean and tidy, but I don't go overboard getting there. I do however, love to have systems in place that keep me organized without tons of effort. So when I started going through all of the sewing materials I inherited when my Oma passed away, it became clear that I was going to need to find a way to organize all of it nicely. I am grateful to have the spools of thread and gadgets that used to belong to her. Many memories of her and of poking around in her sewing room when I was a little girl, came back when I was going through the stash...I want to treat those things respectfully. About a month ago I looked around online at several different thread storage systems. The problem was that anything that seemed like it could work for me was much more money than I wanted to spend. So...of course the gears in my brain were turning and I had to get the husband involved. He's quite handy - so it was a good move on my part. We went to Lowe's and picked up some boards and dowels and a couple of wrought iron hooks. He drilled holes in one board for pegs cut from the dowels - perfect thread spool storage. I picked up a can of spray paint for the boards on my way home from work last week and he sprayed both pieces for me. Last night he installed both pieces in my sewing area. Here is the before and after pictures - sorry about the photo quality, the light wasn't very good.This makes me very happy!I was in the mood to clean things up and organize, so I spent some time organizing my little fabric collection next...
When that was done I was in the mood to put my new and improve sewing area to use...I have also been wanting to practice "curved seams" a bit - I have a hard time with the coordination involved with turning fabric and keeping the edges lined up the right way while the machine is running. So I started with a sketch....It seemed curvy enough to be challenging, so I cut the fabric out, pinned and got started.I
I had quite a few "hiccups" as I put it together - this didn't suprise me. Here is my little elephant...I want to do a bit more with it, maybe put a little striped ear on him. He could also use a little more stuffing - I haven't sewn up his back leg completely yet, so I can still add a little more fluffy filling. He isn't perfect, but I'm happy with him - again, another learning experience.
I want to post some pictures of some of the onesies I've worked on before - my dear friend Amber specifically asked about seeing some, but I'll save that for another day, something to look forward to!