wlw and retreat update

Okay, so last weekend the retreat was totally awesome!!! It was so, so good to spend some time just hanging out and scrappin' with Jan and the other ladies. There were these two ladies that had driven from a small town that's like 2 hours away and they were totally hilarious, and mixed with Jan's humour I was laughing all weekend. As predicted, though, I did gain weight! I think mostly because scrapbooking is so sedentary. I did also take my crochet project that I was working on, and finished it up Sunday night when I could not get to sleep. All weekend we were staying up until like 2 in the morning, and unfortunately I am still stuck in the staying up waaay to late cycle! So, these pics I took on the drive back of the brilliant contrast the Fall foliage! So much more beautiful in person, but you get the idea.

So, this little bear was inspired by Ana Paula Rimoli's blog and I have her book "Amigurumi World" which has the pattern for the basic bear. I saw her post where she had made her little bear a little Halloween costume and was like: I have to make one! But, as I think I've mentioned before I am cheap and so therefore did not want to pay for a pattern or ready made costume since I figured I could figure one out! Hers is admittedly way more professional looking. He just cracks me up! I've been keeping him on my desk at work to cheer me up :) I'm planning other little outfits for each season. I know, dorky!

In other news, I joined Swap-Bot. I was thinking I might enjoy swapping some more, and stumbled upon it. I'm glad I did, I've joined 3 swaps so far. I am going to do a Christmas card swap, a scrapbooking swap and a vintage sheet fat quarter swap. I had really wanted to join Jennifer's vintage sheet swap but at the time did not have enough variety to swap! I've gotten a little more stashed so I feel comfortable enough to participate.

wlw and a ponder....

Okay, so I lost 1 lb this week - yahoo! I'm the same today as I was on Monday so I'm calling it an official loss of weight! June and I went for a nice long walk on Sunday, that must have tipped me over to the loss side :) This weekend is the scrapbooking retreat though so I'm not sure that I'll keep that pound off! It's a whole weekend of scrapbooking and the staff at the retreat place makes all the food for us!
So, what I'm pondering is a name for my blog other than just my plain old first name. Thing is that I'm not so witty. And, frankly this thing is such a mish mash of stuff, you know? But, I've been thinking about it. Maybe something will come to mind when I'm not even thinking at all? It'll sneak up on me!

distract me with barrettes

Started sewing all the squares together for the quilt, got to the second row and realized that there were two squares right next to each other that had the same center - bah! Then, at the third row realized that one center was on point that really shouldn't be, so I had to take all the stitching out and resew it. About that time I realized I should work on something else :) Hence, the butterfly barrette. I saw the original on "One Pretty Thing" from Lollychops and thought it was so cute! Mine is actually my own doodled butterfly and I cut it out from 3 different types of fabric, then scrunched it in the middle and sewed on the button (one from my Mom's vintage stash hoorah!) and then I hot-glued it to a clip because I couldn't figure out how to sew it on :) I think I'll trim up the edges a little but otherwise I likey :) I will maybe also make one from the pattern from Lollychops b/c it's super cute.

halloween-y

Aha! I found another ugly pumpkin to re-do!!! For .75 cents I thought it'd be worth it ;) I'm thinking that this started out as papier mache, it doesn't feel like foam. I think I will glitter it tonight! Since there are nice big sections I'm thinking I'll alternate black/orange.


So, I've had this foam cone shape hanging out in my box just waiting for the perfect project. (sorry the table is such a mess!) So, I wanted to do one of these candy corn topiaries and I think it turned out cute :) I realized just now after linking it up that the original was made with posterboard - whoops! I guess it's the idea that counts, right?
Joann's had the cutest ever pompom edging so I had to get it! I used fabric that I just wrapped around then I pretty much just hot glued everything b/c I didn't want stitching to show. The only part that I did sew is on the bottom where you can't see, but I didn't want the raw foam hanging out so I just traced around the circle and added probably 1/4 inch, cut out another circle and sewed around. I cut a slit in the circle and turned it inside out, then glued the slit side down to the bottom of the cone.

Finished product!
And, here it is in the house, June of course snoozing on the couch.

And, here's the other thing I worked on earlier, had to change out the seasonal frame. I hadn't really gotten to try out my new Cricut Hello Kitty cartridge, so this was the perfect project! I have to admit that it was rather time consuming to cut out each little piece and glue it down. And, I didn't have a long enough piece of the orange to cut out "happy halloween" so I grabbed another of what I thought was the same color and now I'm noticing that the "n" is a shade off!!! BAH! Well, you get the idea :)

giveaway!

Okay, so seriously I would LOVE this scrap-box!!!!!! Check out the giveaway at Make it and Love it for all the details! How perfect would that be, for real???

here's what I've decided and wlw

And frankly this is not earth-shattering or revolutionary in any way except to me. I've decided that if I like something it doesn't matter if someone else doesn't, right? I like the stuff I do, and just because say, a close friend, doesn't - doesn't mean that my work is suddenly crap. So there.

Now that is taken care of and off my chest :) I did not lose any weight, but also did not gain :) I'll be happy with that especially since I had a salt-fest this weekend!

And, can I please tell you that our new bible study is AWESOME!!! Just plain ol good stuff. Love it. We're doing "Believing God" which is another Beth Moore study. I had actually started this same study like 5 or so years ago when I first was really serious about my walk. So, it's been cool to see where I was then and compare to where I am now. I think this study is meaning a little more to me personally because I can share it with friends. The first time around I didn't know anyone else and so I was just absorbing everything. This time, I can discuss things and watch friends grow.

I have rummaged

So Jan, her Mom in Law, and Sis in Law and I headed to the annual rummage sale at the fairgrounds yesterday. And guess what day it was??? Bag sale day! Anything you could fit in a bag for $4. So, here's how lame I am (and cheap) - I had really only budgeted $2 for the sale and at first was kind of bummed that it was twice as much as I wanted to spend. Until I got to the blanket/linen table, that is! There were a TON of old sheets. And, an old lady who was about to get to the pretty ones. I felt a little sneaky grabbing them up before her, but I guess that's how it goes at rummage sales? I'm thinking that all the sheets came from the same house, they are all from JC Penney and full sized, except one set of CA king. There is also a Strawberry Shortcake sheet that I just HAD to have!!! Here's a funny story - when I was in high school I went through a phase where I only wanted to wear homemade dresses. The catch is that I also wanted to wear tights that didn't match and my red sweatshirt. I wore my red sweatshirt with everything pretty much. And when I wasn't wearing tights I was wearing purple socks. Anywhoo - I had a Strawberry Shortcake sheet from when I was a kid and cut it up into a dress. But I cut the bodice out with the characters upside down so I never wore it! BAH! So, anyways I had to have that sheet. I will incorporate it in something for sure :)

I also snagged a wool sweater vest that if I don't want to wear I am going to felt. And some really cute old children's books that I have some fun ideas for cards/scrapbooking stuff. I also grabbed an embroidery hoop that is missing the tightener part, but I want to use it to make one of those pincushion threadcatcher things and thought the hoop would be perfect to sew the fabric around to keep the threadcatcher open.

I started to sew my quilt squares last night. Of course, I started stressing out about the thread contrasting because I started with one of the dark brown ones and the thread I had picked out looked terrible. So I ran over to Joanns and grabbed some dark brown thread. I sewed all the brown squares and today started on the green ones (with green thread).

So BTW it is absolutely freezing!!!! here! Freezing. Today when I drove by the bank thermometer it read 43!!!! Yesterday was like 44 b/c the sun was out. So, here's June keeping cozy on the couch, and as you can see she had made herself a little bed by pulling back the sheet and blanket I keep over the couch to keep her black fur from getting all over it! Little stinker :)