THE SKY IS ON FIRE!!!

After a week of heavy clouds and just enough rain to keep everyone inside forever, the sun finally worked up the ambition to come out for a measly 15 minutes. Husband, attempting to make a joke, remarked, "I think the sky is on fire, there's this weird light outside." Of course, the six year-old crowd heard only, "THE SKY IS ON FIRE!!!!" Which prompted Drew to say, " I need a stick!" Presumably to put on the fire, these boys are nearly as much of a pyromaniac as their father. Ian, who is on yet another Care Bear kick, yelled "I think it's the Care Bears!" in a tone of perfect glee that I haven't heard since Christmas morning. When we finally got them to understand that Daddy was just joking and that the light was only the plain old ordinary sun, the level of disappointment was mind-blowing. I had to promise them we could go to Chris and Nikki's for dinner to get the crying to stop. They love going to Uncle Chris's house because he has a very large collection of Star Wars Lego's that he is kind enough to let them destroy...I mean play with. Aunt Nikki has informed me, privately, that she thinks Chris lets them take apart the ships just because he has such a good time putting them back together after we leave. We all have a guilty pleasure, no?

Getting back to Ian's latest Care Bear obsession, his favorite bear is Laughs-a-lot, aka Orangey, since he's had the bear since the beginning of (his) time and Laughs-a-lot is rather hard to say. Anyway, he's been after me for the past few days to make the bear a bed. So today during nap time he and I made Orangey a bed....and a pillow....and a quilt.... and even a mattress since, apparently, a Kleenex box wrapped in contact paper isn't nearly comfortable enough for a stuffed animal. Oh well, he loves it, we had some quality Mama/son time, it was all made from items I already had, and I got the satisfaction of actually completing a project all in one go. And really, how often does that happen.














Update, 1 hour later: Ian has lost his bed with the bear in it and is sobbing. LOUDLY. Drew has found his favorite Care Bear, Funshine, know around here as Sunny, and is demanding that I make him a bed, too. LOUDLY. Are you sensing a theme here?

Update, 3 hours later: Drew and I have finished his bed and he insists that I share it with you. I would just like to state for the record that I had nothing to do with the fabric choices, the boys picked them out of my scrap basket all on their own. It's rather unfortunate that they seem to have inherited their Daddy's color matching skills. After helping me sew these they are very interested in learning how to use my sewing machine all by themselves (as opposed to sitting on my lap, with their hands on top of mine for the actual sewing and helping by pushing the back-up button) and that makes me more than a little proud.

Disappearing Coasters....

So for my first foray into quilting I made myself a set of 4 coasters from scraps of my favorite fabrics. Unfortunately, my twins have already disappeared half the set, hopefully they'll show up during the next house cleaning. I really want to make a crazy quilt, but I have a feeling that it might be more than I can handle. I'll probably make the attempt anyway, so any hints or tips will be much appreciated. I haven't had much time for crafting lately what with all the baby-sitting I've been doing to make ends meet. (Husband has been laid off since two weeks before Christmas. Being an electrician in Michigan sucks.) The lack of creativity is turning my brain to mush and the lack of progress on projects already in the works is making me crabby. I think I need to go try to finish Drew's tooth pillow before the daycare kids get here, 'cause I'll feel really guilty if I don't have it done when his first tooth falls out and, honestly, that could be any second now.

Happy Birthday to MEEEE!!!!

Look at the pretty my Mama got me for my birthday. I knew if I was patient I'd find something wonderful. I can't wait to see what else I get. If I have to turn 30 there'd better be good presents!

These are a few of my favorite new things...

I finished my mittens. I love the flip top on them. It never fails, I just get my mittens on and a boys will ask, "Mama, will you zip my coat for me?" Never mind that they are perfectly capable of zipping their own coats, I've been told that I "do it better!" And now I don't have to take my mittens off to help them zip or put their gloves back on after they get snow in them. Total SCORE!




I decided that I needed a new knitting bag. I finally used the adorable hedgehog fabric that I bought off etsy months ago. The lining and straps are made from an old shirt of my brothers that he ripped the elbows. I even took off the breast pocket and reattached it inside. When making the straps I discovered that I am out of stabilizer but that cross stitch fabric works very well instead.

The beaded candle holder is KNIT! I think it turned out awesome. I got the pattern for it and also the mittens out of "Handknit Holidays" by Melanie Falick. Of course modifications had to be made to the pattern to make it work with the size glass candle holder that I could find at the dollar store. The designer Annie Modesitt claims "knitting with wire and beads can be a spiritual experience." In the beginning all I could think was " unless my own personal hell counts as a spiritual experience, Annie is not the sharpest tool in the shed." But by the end knitting with wire and beads won me over, mostly, I think, because it's just so pretty.

After photos

Since I showed some "before" photos in my "Treasures!" post I thought I should let you all see some "after" pictures as well. And I must admit that thinking I would have room to increase my stash was just plain silly. Of course that won't stop me from buying new things.....just ask the nice ladies at the local Ben Franklin! I'm thinking of trying needle felting as my next new hobby. Does anybody know how easy/hard/expensive/frustrating this might be?

DPN Bags

I got tired of my DPN's being in the cheap plastic baggies that they came in so I made pretty new ones. Finally I found a use for those little scraps of my favorite fabrics that I couldn't bear to throw out. (I am not a packrat!) I made my first button hole in this project and tried out several different closure methods. The easiest was sticky back velcro but, I think the prettiest is the button. I even embroidered the neddle size on the bags. FYI - much easier to do before you sew the bag up. *embarassed face* At least I figured that out on the first bag instead of the fifth.

Maybe now the coats will be hung up.....

My boys needed some encouragement to get their coats hung up with out me having to ask them 5 times. Plus my mudroom is kinda a yucky room, not much going on in there but mess, it needed something cool. So I took a peg rack (made by husband), added my favorite color orange, and Drew and Ian's (Uncle inspired) obsession with snowboarding, and created this.

Finally something to do with all the extra issues of "Snowboarder Magazine" that I get from my brother. I know he's art director and everything but, do I really need to save more than 1 copy of the same issue? Please tell me I don't because I'm feeling a little guilty for cutting up his magazine. How would I feel if someone cut up something I made and used it in their art? Of course my art isn't mass produced so that makes a difference.....right?
Now I just have to nag husband into actually hanging it up. Wish me luck.

TREASURES!!!!

The husband and I went thrifting today. It's not quite as much fun as thrifting with Ani but......LOOK what I found! I needed a new storage piece for my craft room since cardboard boxes were taking over and the plastic drawers were screwing with my creative powers. Mass produced plastic items are my kryptonite ;) I try very hard to avoid them but, sadly it's not always possible, especially now that my boys want the toys that everyone else has instead of homemade toys. Anywho.....back to the finds. I'd been eyeing this cupboard at my local Goodwill for several weeks but, it was priced at $60. A bit much for me to justify with the husband laid off again. However when we went today it was half off, and I got a 10% off coupon for making a donation so, SCORE! I can fit so much into this baby I might get to increase my stash!





Then we went to a resale shop. It's not my favorite one. Shopping in it is very much like shopping in someones garage, not much organization and you never know what you might find. Today though, my angels knew I needed something special. I found this awesome old typewriter for $10. The paper spool thingie is stuck all the way over but, husband thinks he can fix it. Even if he can't this thing is so cool, I just had to have it. Yipee for a good thrifting day!

Yesterday I made myself an inspiration board. I really like the fabric, it has little umbrellas or parasols all over it. I covered a piece of cardboard with the fabric and then stapled it into an old frame. Pretty and recycled....does it get any better?!?!