Tuesday, October 25, 2011

a swap and some bread

I have a couple fun things to share today.  First off, I signed up for a swap on Swap-bot that was a whimsical fat quarter and something handmade out of whimsical fabric based on our partners profile.  I checked my recipient's profile and was a little stumped at first on what kind of colors, themes, etc that I should go with.  I finally noticed that she put that she likes owls, so that's the theme I went with!  I'm still digging mug rugs, so thought I might try a little applique.  I'm happy with how it turned out, and best part is that she really liked it too! 
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back view:
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I just did a meandering swirly quilty pattern - I imagined that those were they "flying lines" of the owl before it landed on the mug rug. Hee, hee :)  And it also kind of mimicked the lines from the fabric I used on the back, which is an Alexander Henry print that I love!
The other fun thing is that I tried a new recipe for pumpkin bread and it turned out fabulously!  I have been finding all kinds of cool stuff to try on Pinterest, which is a website where you can browse all sorts of images that also have a link to a website that might have a tutorial and such.  I was right about to sign out the other night when I saw this loaf of beautiful bread, I clicked on it and it had a link to a recipe for pumpkin cream cheese bread.  Oh man!  Amanda, from the blog Modern Marigold, had posted a "pin-did challenge" for people to actually do the things that they pin.  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try it out and I'm so glad I did because it turned out sooooooo good. 
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That lighter area in the middle is a ripple of cream cheese! yum. I will definitely be trying this again!
In other news, I did not finish the book that I was sure I was going to finishe this weekend, The Mercy by Beverly Lewis.  I really, really wanted to keep reading -but- I thought that this week was book club and I had not read my chapters yet!  So, I buckled down and read to chapter 8.5 in that even though I'm pretty sure we were supposed to get to 11 (?), then I checked the church website in search of a phone # to confirm that book club was indeed tonight and it said November 1st.  Whooo!  :)  So, I still have time to catch up.  Good thing.  This weekend is the scrapbook retreat and I'll bring it along because sometimes my brain just needs a break from scrapbooking!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Mean people suck

As if we all didn't know that already, right?  Well, here's another case to support the statement.  Remember yesterday's post about my cute pumpkins???  Good thing I shared them because they are gone!  Last night about 1:30 I woke up to voices really close to the house and I was waiting for something bad to happen but didn't have the nerve to get up and turn the light on.  I should've because two punky boys grabbed my pumpkins and smashed them in the street!  Bastards!  I almost yelled down the street at them because I could see them 2 blocks down, but thought that might not be the best idea in the world.  I went and picked up the pieces because I couldn't stand the thought of them getting run over and smushed by cars.  I guess I'll be roasting seeds a LOT sooner than I had planned.  I still have one pumpkin left which has been moved into the kitchen with the other one I had displayed. 

Friday, October 21, 2011

pumpkin-y catch up

Holy cow!  Sorry I haven't blogged in forever.  I haven't had two minutes to just be blogging for awhile, just been busy.  K, so the first project I finished up the Sunday before last.  I like the way it turned out, I just made my own pattern for tumblers with paper.  I will say that I don't really like using paper as a pattern because if you happen to be cutting repeated pieces and maybe you don't get the cutting ruler completely over the paper you can slowly trim it down until some of the pieces are not uniform.  I had that happen but still like the way it turned out.  Sorry this picture is so blurry!  But you get the idea.  I had the "ghastly ghoulies" fabric in the gray colorway from last year.  I kept thinking I'd make a runner with it but nothing looked right.  This last time I was at the LQS I bought some of the orange colorway and it all started to come together.
halloween table runnerHere's the back view, George jumped into the picture as I was taking it!  Silly cat :)
halloween table runner back viewLast weekend I went down to visit with Mom.  I drove down Friday afternoon, it was a beautiful day and drive.  It was like driving back in time to Summer!  I left home and 50 degree weather and drove into upper 90's!  I found a couple of pairs of cute boots and we ate at my favorite cheap americanized mexican place La Comida, and it was fab. 

Saturday we found a bunch of yard sales, we trolled around for awhile before I realized I might not live without coffee.  We stopped at a Starbucks, which had the most amazing ever pumpkin spice muffins!!!  So. good.  Okay, and I also learned a little life lesson.  You know how sometimes you'll hear people raving about something and you think, hmmm that sounds just okay but then you think maybe they all know something I don't?  Go with your gut on that.  Maybe tons of people like something and it's just gross.  Case in point: salted caramel latte.  GROSS.  I thought, sounds interesting and I've heard people just raving all about it.  It tasted like drinking a pretzel.  Because they put that super coarse salt on it.  After you get past the salt it's fine but that doesn't happen until about halfway down.  I say go with pumpkin spice for a seasonal "want to try".  Just sayin. 

The big fun for me was going to the pumpkin patch.  Which is a funny story because I have been driving down to Chico from here for at least 8-9-10 years or however long I've lived here.  And in between Red Bluff and Chico there has been a sign that looked like it should be a pumpkin patch, "Pumpkinland".  So, when Mom and I were thinking we'd go to a pumpkin patch I immediately thought of that place and it'd be perfect.  We drove all the way out there and it's really called "Pumpkinland Chocolate Factory"!  Whoops!  It smelled divine in there!  Luckily there was a fruit stand up the road with a little pumpkin patchy area and we had fun picking out the perfect pumpkins.  I should mention that we had been driving with the windows down, so my hair is pretty scary.
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Here were the winning pumpkins on my porch the night I got home.  Sorry the picture is so dark.  I also picked a bigger oranger pumpkin that is in my kitchen.  I also picked up some of those miniature pumpkins that were super cute, a couple of orange ones, a couple white with greenish stripes and a white one.  I brought those in to work and put them on the front desk where Vikkie and I sit.  It's funny because the patients are just fascinated by the white and the striped ones!  They are so curious where I could have found such exotic pumpkins.  The funny thing is that I think I've seen similar ones at the plain old grocery store!  Oh, well.  I'm glad it brings them joy and awe.
pumpkins
I totally scored at the library book sale!  I got two walmart sized bags of books on tape for the hubs!  .50 cents each!  Super score.  Mom also found a whole bunch of Beverly Lewis books that I hadn't read yet, so I've got lots of reading to do!
Okay, so that was last weekend, what's up for this weekend?  I might, might be starting a new quilt.  I don't remember the name of the magazine I just bought, but it had a really interesting looking quilt on the cover.  It's scrappy but also structured.  Mom gave me a huge bag of fabric scraps that she scored at a sale and the lady couldn't give them to her fast enough for .50 cents!  I've sorted through the bags, and I think it will fit the bill for the quilt on the cover.  The other fun thing about the scrap bags is that there are tons of pieces of leftover binding!  So, I might even be able to eke out the binding for the quilt with those.  We'll see, it might not be quite enough or the right colors.
I started a new book last, which means I am currently reading 3 books.  Um, more accurately I have started 3 books and really just hooked into one.  It's the last book in a series from Beverly Lewis called The Mercy.  I have been waiting for it to come out, then on the wait list at the library so I was eager to start it.  I have, of course, already read the ending and it is satisfying :)  I'm pretty sure I'll finish it before the weekend is over, her books are easy reads and I always want to keep reading.  Like just one more chapter, then I finish that one and then I'm like, just one more chapter! 
Next weekend is the scrapbook retreat!  That will be fun :)  What is everyone else up to???

Saturday, October 8, 2011

new dolls dress and sweater

So, this morning I accomplished two things.  One is this little dress for the new doll.  It took a little bit of sewing and resewing to get it right, like couture for dolls!  The proportions on this doll are tricky, but I got it right and will know what to do next time for a pattern.  I'm thinking I might add a little belt? 
new doll
Here's the sweater I was working on. I think it turned out really well.  I found the pattern on Ravelry, here's the link.  This doll is quite a bit bigger than a Blythe, or my other dolls which I usually use a Blythe pattern for so I did a few modifications.  I added a few rows, used bigger needles and a larger gauge yarn than the pattern called for.  I notice now in the picture and looking at the pattern picture that I didn't do the garter stitch all along the edge.  Whoops.  I took off the necklace that came with her and made her a new one.  It doesn't quite cover the icky glue spot but is an improvement I think.
Other than dolls stuff I haven't done much.  I might do some regular sewing.  Or read?  Who even knows.


Friday, October 7, 2011

super laze

There's been lots of napping going on around our house!  Monday I took the day off since the doctors were out of the office.  I did attempt to do some sewing in the morning and it just didn't work out so I went back in the house and watched movies and took a 2 hour nap!  George enjoyed an extra day inside snoozing.  Normally when I'm not home she's outside.
 Today I've been doing some knitting.  It's cold out so I don't feel guilty putting a movie in and just knitting!  I'm working on a little sweater for one of the dolls, it's turning out really cute!  Today I have learned how to cast on stitches in the middle of the work and also transfer stitches onto a piece of scrap yarn to pick up later.  I'm planning to spend some serious time in the craft house, but we'll see.  I don't have an actual project going so I'm like doing a little of this and a little of that.  The way the weather is it might turn into another super lazy weekend!  Yesterday my windshield was iced over - not just frosted where once you turn the defrost on it melts off quickly.  Nope, I really had to scrape at it.  bah.
What's everyone else up to this weekend? 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

must.lose.weight

I have decided that I need to reinstate Weight Loss Wednesdays.  I used to do this regularly but stopped quite awhile ago and now the scale is indicating it needs to begin again!  So, I think what I need to do is start with making some goals, little ones that are attainable, and then reporting back here every Wednesday. 
Goals for this week:
*  Will not eat out for lunch more than once
*  Will bring healthy lunch and a snack
*  Will try to eat breakfast
*  Will fit in some sort of exercise and cleaning the office does not count!
*  Will drink more water

Okay, I think that's pretty good!  I'll report back next Wednesay and let you know how it goes!  Anyone else want to join in???  I'm mostly doing this to hold myself accountable, but sometimes it helps to have others to support you.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

playing around

Um, okay so I'm going to share a botch up.  Because I think it's sort of funny!  So, I bought this Bradley doll at Goodwill for $4.99 with the intent to renovate her.  I don't like the look of Bradley dolls - they have giant poofy skirts and look a little like old west  dolls to me.  The one I bought had a giant bonnet and giant hoop skirt.  But, on flickr I saw a doll that I thought was tres cool and looked like it had begun life as a Bradley.  And, so I have taken off the awful clothes she came in and have started making a dress.  This is the rough draft, so forgive the stitching.
new doll to renovate
I'm not sure what to do about a couple of things.  The spot where her necklace is has a dirty looking glue spot underneath.  Also, where the bonnet was there is a line of glue on her hair.  Um, which leads to the botching story.....I thought I'd make her a wig!  I know, where do I get these ideas???  But, nevertheless that's what I proceeded to do.  I watched a you tube tutorial where the girl took a plastic baggie and put it over the head and then hot glued hair over it.  I didn't account for the ginormous top of this gals head!  So, I ripped it taking it off to trim it down.  And I used the only saran wrap that I have, which happens to be pink!  LOL! 
Then I thought maybe it would work on one of my other dolls???  The answer was no, but it is a funny photo :)
wig botch up
Dude! That's a whole lotta hair!  And you can see the saran wrap.....ugh.  I might try again though.......we'll see.
I do have a project that did work to share with you.  I started this maybe a couple weeks ago in anticipation of Fall.  Then, was a little annoyed that it's getting cold already and didn't work too hard on it.  But, finished it up today and I like the way it turned out.
Fall pillow
Originally I had in mind to make the leaves all facing different directions but you know how it is, you start turning things this way and that, and voila! I liked them all put together like this. I had the purple binding leftover from another project and I really like the way it looks.
So, early today Jan and I went to the annual rummage sale at the fairgrounds. We thought that all day Saturday is bag sale day, but it really started at noon and we were there at 9am. So no bag sale, which is really fine. Last year I stuffed my bag with anything that looked interesting and ended up with some stinky stuff and stuff that didn't work so it was a waste of money. This year I just picked stuff I'd really use and paid the same as I would have for a bag. I got a couple of wreaths forms, some green pom poms and some random other bits and bobs to stick on wreaths.
After that I had a wild hair and drove to Merrill which is like 20 minutes away to the quilt store. And bought a ton of fun fat quarters!
fun fabric
I kept taking bolt after bolt to the cutting table because I kept wandering while she was cutting and finding new whimsical fabric! The store was PACKED because I guess the first Saturday of the month they have a thing. I mean, I couldn't even get in the door at first! No joke. I'm glad though because that means the store is definitely getting supported.
Tonight Kristin is having a Pampered Chef party which I'm going to. I've been eyeing their garlic peeler!