Swift

My dad made me a adjustable swift to go with the ball winder he made me a couple of years ago. It worked great. Thanks Dad!!!

Bias

I just turned half a yard of fabric into 15 yards of continuous bias binding. the pattern calls for 103 inches. I think I got it covered. *laughing*

Checking In

A small ornament from the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue.
I left off the outer border, to keep it small.

Knit shawl started

Yarn: Bernat Satin, Flamingo
Pattern found here.


I did paint a little more on Thursday. I decided to paint the medicine cabinet off-white. The cabinet was green. I have just left it for the past several years because I was just happy to have a nice big cabinet. I found it at a yard sale for $15 dollars. It is one of those with three doors and very fancy framework around the mirror. It took a long time to paint all those little details.

Paint, paint, and more paint.

I have been painting for 5 days in a row. I am still not finished.

The first day I brushed primer on the walls where we had touched up a few holes. Especially around the new closet door. The door has a smaller frame then the old one.

Day two I painted the ceiling with primer. We had put texture on it a long time ago to cover cracks and it had never been painted.

The next day I painted the ceiling a color called ginger sugar. It is off-white in the green family.

I waited for that to cure over night. I masked off a line 3 inches down and painted the upper half of the wall. The upper wall is yellow. I don't know what color to call it. It does not match my paint chip. It almost matches. After lunch I went back and painted the lower wall green. The lower wall is textured to look like tile ( the original plaster wall.)

I waited over night and repeated day four on day five, putting on a second coat.

I have a wallpaper boarder that ties all the color together that goes in between the green and yellow. But I have to wait at least two days for the paint to cure. Plus since I used an enamel paint that is very glossy I have to prepare the wall for the paper. *sigh*

I also need to paint the trim and the closet door.

It is taking longer than I thought. But I think I am doing pretty good when you consider how long ago I started the project. Some time in August of 2008. Yes that long ago, when I tore out the built in closet with its 'evil' 30 inch deep shelves, I could not reach the back of. And It had equally ridiculously deep drawers. ( one day I just snapped and cleaned everything out of it and literally took a sledge hammer too it. Then I sent a text message to Shawn and told him I had done it. ) Tearing out that closet called for a new door. That messed up the Wallpaper around the door. Wallpaper is just horrible to take off the wall. I procrastinated a lot. Then When the weather turned cooler This year I made myself get busy on that paper. I did a couple sections at a time. And Shawn helped get the really hard to reach parts. After the paper was down things started moving right along.

I don't think I will get it all finished by this weekend. I have plans to go to my Mother-in-laws house and eat birthday cake on Saturday. And Sunday is bi-monthly game day with our friends.
Pictures soon.

More of the finish it list

I started this Granny Square Bag while we were on vacation in July.
It is very large.

Most of the yarn was odd bits in my Mother's Stash.

We now have a ceiling fixture in the bathroom, not just vanity lights.
No Electricity hooked to it yet. I am just glad the hole looks so nice. We had to cut through plaster and lath-board. I was afraid the whole ceiling might try to crumble. I also got primer painted on from the ceiling down to the base boards.

A walk in the park

We were enjoying the beautiful Fall weather.

Feed the birds

It is so hard to get a good picture of them.
I think there are 3 different ones, but have only seen two at a time.
They don't like to share either.

I spent about 3 days putting things in the craft room back to order. I have a couple of Chicken Scratch bookmarks to show. I have been wanting to try that type of embroidery for some time now. I found some great vintage pattern books while shopping at the thrift store on vacation.
I just need to do a little top stitching and I can share.

Coffee Jello

It is like iced coffee! So Yummy.

I used this recipe. I used an extra tablespoon of sugar. If you like your coffee sweet you may want to add more. I also sprinkled a little cinnamon on top.

I made good progress on getting back into the Dear Jane quilt project. 10 blocks over the last week!

Back to The everyday...

The Family had a great two week vacation. Two days driving to the western edge of New Mexico, Several days there, and two days driving back home. A lot of driving! The kids do good in the car. they take games and watch DVDs.

We got to go camping! It was cold at night, hot during the day, but really fun.
We even roasted marshmallows
.

We saw beautiful wild flowers.

We were camping in Cunningham Gulch, Co. The views were fabulous.
They were having the annual Hard Rock 100, an endurance run. 100 miles over mountains, through valleys, and across whatever water. The runners crossed this waterfall 3 times on the trail that zig-zagged up the mountain side.

Besides camping we got to visit with my parents and both of my brothers.
Mom and I sewed together,and the guys went on one Geo-cache hike.
I raided the fabric shelves (and got all that lovely scrappy fabric in the previous post).

We had a terrific time! Thanks Mom and Dad!

More bits and pieces for Dear Jane

I has been over a year since I worked on my Dear Jane. I am ready to jump back in and sew, sew, sew. I have this fresh collection of scraps to add to the fabrics I am using for my DJ.
I spent an entire afternoon ironing all the pre-washed pieces.

Giggle

Bacteria!

.....so there is not much crafting going on here lately, just lots of washing and cleaning.

There are two or three different bacteria type illnesses going around the area. I think everyone in the house has had at least one of these bad bacteria.

Random bunny picture taken on Easter.
(because it makes me smile)

New stuff

Myr has decided to try crochet. she thinks it is easier than Knitting. She has just been practicing the starter chain and the single crochet stitch.

I got new eye glasses.

Avon Glassware

I found these while out at the thrift store yesterday. I am going to use the lidded one for a sugar bowl.
I am doing crafty stuff, but most of it is Christmas related and I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Halloween sewing

I am working on Myra's Costume, Princess Jasmine. It is turning out to be more complex than I had thought but it is super cute. Finishing up the top half today and will start the pants.

It is a nice mix of blue and green fabrics. I would share a picture, but the batteries are dead in the camera. I got really lucky and found some beaded fringe in the Clearance bin 90% off. We are really digging through my collection scraps of trims and finding some nice complementary stuff.

I think it will turn out really fancy. ( and hopefully not tacky)

Time to get back to being crafty.

This weekend I finally got back sewing and all things needle arts. I Quickly did a couple of clothing repairs and that jumped started me back to action. I sewed on a patch and mended a seam. Then moved on to turn one of Myra's favorite pairs of Jeans (with a ripped knee) into a tote/purse for her. I also sewed up a little zippered box bag for her to keep her lip gloss and such in.



I found some great pattern booklet finds at the thrift store that have my fingers itching to get back to my Dear Jane. And to start new projects. I will try to resist the new project urge.

I found and interesting leaflet for knitting a new yoke on a sweatshirt to dress it up a bit. I am going to give that a go, even though it is a "new" project.

Now I am off to make up a list of which Dear Jane blocks I need to work on to get back with the group. Lets hope I am not 40 blocks behind like I was last time I took an unplanned break.

Up for Swap this entire box of pre-cut "tumblers".
Various fabrics, some vintage and all fabric types including cotton, linen, and flannel.

Doing a spring clean at the end of summer.

I have been cleaning like mad. The basement really needed a good de-clutter. But I am starting to feel the craft need to return. I have a lots of UFO's. I need to decide where to start to finish them up. Or maybe find a new home for a few of those projects.

Book covers!

I am trying to use up scraps left over from my Dear Jane quilt. I think bookcovers are the going to be a good use for fat eighths. I also have a good start on a Stacked Coins quilt that will be a good baby sized quilt. I have bunches of 2.5 inch squares sorted out for a Nine patch of some sort. And I am thinking of Doing pinwheels with my 5 inch squares.

Happy Mother's Day!

My gift was this great new coffee mug from Starbucks.
I Also got some Hersey's Extra Dark Chocolates. Yum.