I've got a long list of projects I'd LOVE to work on this weekend. I'm feeling pretty crafty right now and all these projects are all over the spectrum - knitting, sewing, hair bow making, jewelry making, etc. I really should learn to focus on just one thing at a time. Oh well.
Also this weekend, We've got to get some progress made on de-cluttering this house. We decided that we will work on the final touches of getting our bedroom back in shape - so mostly just getting the last of the clothes put away somewhere. Next, we will tackle the kitchen. My main project in there will be to get the table and shelves cleared off of all the junk that has gathered and maybe clean out the pantry. There's so much stuff in there that we have likely forgotten about and is probably stale by now anyway. Time to get it out of this house!
So on top of my house cleaning that has to get done, I'm wanting to do all sorts of fun stuff. I'm being realistic knowing that it won't all get done... but I do want to at least accomplish something. I should probably start with the netbook case that I've been working on... it's so not going well though. I tried following the pattern, but it's not written out very well... because I'm totally missing something. I'm going to be having to make some adjustments to not waste what I've done so far. We'll see how that goes.
I also need to hem a skirt for a friend, and hem a pair of my own pants.
I need to make these earrings for another friend.
And I need to make some hair bows - a big sister/little sister combo.
I'd like to work on this dress that my sister asked me to make for her, but I haven't heard back from her about any plans to get together - so this probably won't happen. I'd also like to make one for myself, so maybe I'll gather the materials for mine at least.
I had saved this pattern in my stash awhile back, and now would like to try making it for my girls. I've got the pattern printed out... next I just need to cut and tape it together. Then choose my fabric for the top. :) We all know that's the tough part... ;)
I'd also like to make this skirt for myself... the pattern has been sitting around here for almost 2 years now. I'm having trouble picking out which fabric to use as well.
Let's see what else...
I want to make some more progress on my Garter Stitch Swing Cardi. It's kind of taking awhile because I keep laying it down to work on smaller, quicker projects.
And speaking of smaller, quicker projects. I need to make another of these hats for a friend at work. Also, I need to make some flowers to go on a few of the hats that I have already finished.
So you see, that's quite a long "would like to do" list and I know I won't finish it all - but maybe having this little list will help me work on things in the right order and get at least some progress made. :)
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
WOW
I hadn't realized It's been so long since I've posted anything... Geez... I'm sorry about that. I really had the best intentions of keeping this thing going. I'm not giving up just yet, just consider the past 2 (almost 3) months a bit of a vacation. I'm getting back on board to post again, at least once a week. :)
So yeah... I have actually been busy with lots of stuff, just haven't found the time to post about it. A big thing that has kept be busy, and tired in the evenings (besides the kids) is that my DesiLea Boutique co-hort, Desiree got married! Yeah! We have been spending lunch breaks at our "real job" running errands for her wedding... so yeah, if you've ever gotten married or helped anyone who has then you realize why that's been keeping us busy. Of course, that means our Etsy shop went on a bit of a vacation as well. We are working on some ideas to re-stock the shelves (or pages, however you want to think of it) and will have things back up and running sometime this summer.
I have actually been crafting stuff too... I've gotten back to my yarn crafts and have been busy obsessing over buying new supplies (cause you can never have enough, right?) and browsing through all sorts of patterns for all kinds of projects. By the way, have you ever looked through all the patterns and such that they have available on Ravelry? I warn you, it can be addictive... but there are some really awesome patterns out there and so many of them are 100% FREE! Even better, right?
So far, I have crocheted a few hats, and flowers and stuff like that. I've started a crochet sweater which took a wrong turn so I frogged it (what?? It means that I unraveled the whole thing and it no longer exists :) ). I started a knit sweater, and ended up putting it down for a few days... when I came back to it I noticed that somehow I managed to knit a hole into it, so that was frogged as well. Now, I'm using that same yarn that I started the other two sweaters with and trying once more to make a sweater with it. I figure that either 3rd time's the charm or I just need to give up and try a different yarn (maybe it's bad luck or something? LOL).
Like that? That's the Garter Stitch Swingy Sweater by Jenn Pellerin that I am currently working on. It will be black and I hope to find some really fun buttons to use on it. I'm going to worry about actually completing the sweater first though before I go to look for buttons. Good idea, right?
My favorite thing about the pattern is that it's kind of a guideline/formula to follow to knit your own sweater in your own specific size. I just hope that I've done the math correctly, and this ends up fitting me. If not, then I can probably find someone who it will fit and save it as a Christmas gift or something.
So yeah, that's what I've been up to. I'll be back soon with more fun stuff... promise :)
So yeah... I have actually been busy with lots of stuff, just haven't found the time to post about it. A big thing that has kept be busy, and tired in the evenings (besides the kids) is that my DesiLea Boutique co-hort, Desiree got married! Yeah! We have been spending lunch breaks at our "real job" running errands for her wedding... so yeah, if you've ever gotten married or helped anyone who has then you realize why that's been keeping us busy. Of course, that means our Etsy shop went on a bit of a vacation as well. We are working on some ideas to re-stock the shelves (or pages, however you want to think of it) and will have things back up and running sometime this summer.
I have actually been crafting stuff too... I've gotten back to my yarn crafts and have been busy obsessing over buying new supplies (cause you can never have enough, right?) and browsing through all sorts of patterns for all kinds of projects. By the way, have you ever looked through all the patterns and such that they have available on Ravelry? I warn you, it can be addictive... but there are some really awesome patterns out there and so many of them are 100% FREE! Even better, right?
So far, I have crocheted a few hats, and flowers and stuff like that. I've started a crochet sweater which took a wrong turn so I frogged it (what?? It means that I unraveled the whole thing and it no longer exists :) ). I started a knit sweater, and ended up putting it down for a few days... when I came back to it I noticed that somehow I managed to knit a hole into it, so that was frogged as well. Now, I'm using that same yarn that I started the other two sweaters with and trying once more to make a sweater with it. I figure that either 3rd time's the charm or I just need to give up and try a different yarn (maybe it's bad luck or something? LOL).
My favorite thing about the pattern is that it's kind of a guideline/formula to follow to knit your own sweater in your own specific size. I just hope that I've done the math correctly, and this ends up fitting me. If not, then I can probably find someone who it will fit and save it as a Christmas gift or something.
So yeah, that's what I've been up to. I'll be back soon with more fun stuff... promise :)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
I'm back! Alive and well, and with power again!
Ahhh... it's nice to be back. I know I'm a slacker and should have posted early last week with Easter photos and such, but well... things got busy, and then it was Wednesday...
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011... a very long and exhausting day, but one that will go down in history! If you haven't heard of the tornadoes that ripped through the Southeastern United States, then you will have after reading this...
Tornadoes are something that we get used to hearing about in the South in the Spring time... during the Spring when the weather can't make up it's mind whether or not it wants to be hot or cold, storms start brewing and we get the best of it. I live in North Alabama and when the weatherman starts showing us lines of storms coming from Mississippi, we can pretty much count on them passing through our area as well.
I expected last Wednesday to be a stormy day, I expected there to be tornado warnings and to be sent to take cover in the hallways at work when the sirens went off. It was a pretty nasty day from the start. I had to get to work early to finish up a project that I had been working on and so I left my house around 6am. I drove through some really bad wind and rain on my way to work. As soon as I sat down at my desk, the few of us who were there already were notified of the first tornado warning of the day and sent to the hallway for cover. (FYI - anytime a warning is issued for our county then they make us go to the halls for safety reasons)
By 11:30am I was being called to the hallway for the 3rd time of the day. The storms were a lot worse than anyone expected, and they just kept coming our way. There had already been some very devastating tornadoes in our state and with the way things were looking for the rest of the day, the closed my work and sent us all home around 12:30pm. I ended up going over to my In-Laws house because that is where my girls were at. We spent the entire day there watching the weatherman show us photos and maps of the lines of tornadoes that were still headed our way.
This is from the National Weather Service and shows the paths of the tornadoes that came through our area and their EF rating. We live right between the EF1 and EF5... just barely missed us on either side.
Around 7pm, we decided that we really had to try to get home... or make sure we still had a home to get to at least.
It was a very scary drive home. What normally takes about 20 minutes, took us an hour. The main problem was that so many of the roads were blocked by fallen trees, power lines and flooding that we kept having to turn around and find an alternate way home.
When we finally made it home, we were very happy to see that yes, our house was still standing. There was no damage, and everything was just fine. We were very lucky!
About a mile North of us is where the F5 passed over - many homes were destroyed, many people injured and too many lives lost.
These are a few photos that I snapped of the area a few days ago. There has been major cleanup done before these were taken, but you can still see the impact that it made...
These photos really are nothing compared to the other areas in this path...
This is a photo I found of a grocery store that was hit on Hwy 53 near the Anderson Hills community. The blue roof building in the background is a credit union building that only suffered slight damage (windows blown out, roof damage, etc.) compared to the rubble of the grocery store.
Lots of other photos can be found here if you are interested.
We were definitely really lucky to have gotten through this virtually unaffected. We were without power for 6 days and therefore inconvenienced when it came to being able to do things like take a hot shower or watch TV, but really that's all it was for us personally. I definitely won't complain one bit!
I've got more stories and photos about how we kept ourselves and two toddlers entertained for 6 days of no power... but more on that in a few days.
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011... a very long and exhausting day, but one that will go down in history! If you haven't heard of the tornadoes that ripped through the Southeastern United States, then you will have after reading this...
Tornadoes are something that we get used to hearing about in the South in the Spring time... during the Spring when the weather can't make up it's mind whether or not it wants to be hot or cold, storms start brewing and we get the best of it. I live in North Alabama and when the weatherman starts showing us lines of storms coming from Mississippi, we can pretty much count on them passing through our area as well.
I expected last Wednesday to be a stormy day, I expected there to be tornado warnings and to be sent to take cover in the hallways at work when the sirens went off. It was a pretty nasty day from the start. I had to get to work early to finish up a project that I had been working on and so I left my house around 6am. I drove through some really bad wind and rain on my way to work. As soon as I sat down at my desk, the few of us who were there already were notified of the first tornado warning of the day and sent to the hallway for cover. (FYI - anytime a warning is issued for our county then they make us go to the halls for safety reasons)
By 11:30am I was being called to the hallway for the 3rd time of the day. The storms were a lot worse than anyone expected, and they just kept coming our way. There had already been some very devastating tornadoes in our state and with the way things were looking for the rest of the day, the closed my work and sent us all home around 12:30pm. I ended up going over to my In-Laws house because that is where my girls were at. We spent the entire day there watching the weatherman show us photos and maps of the lines of tornadoes that were still headed our way.
This is from the National Weather Service and shows the paths of the tornadoes that came through our area and their EF rating. We live right between the EF1 and EF5... just barely missed us on either side.
It was a very scary drive home. What normally takes about 20 minutes, took us an hour. The main problem was that so many of the roads were blocked by fallen trees, power lines and flooding that we kept having to turn around and find an alternate way home.
When we finally made it home, we were very happy to see that yes, our house was still standing. There was no damage, and everything was just fine. We were very lucky!
About a mile North of us is where the F5 passed over - many homes were destroyed, many people injured and too many lives lost.
These are a few photos that I snapped of the area a few days ago. There has been major cleanup done before these were taken, but you can still see the impact that it made...
These photos really are nothing compared to the other areas in this path...
This is a photo I found of a grocery store that was hit on Hwy 53 near the Anderson Hills community. The blue roof building in the background is a credit union building that only suffered slight damage (windows blown out, roof damage, etc.) compared to the rubble of the grocery store.
Lots of other photos can be found here if you are interested.
We were definitely really lucky to have gotten through this virtually unaffected. We were without power for 6 days and therefore inconvenienced when it came to being able to do things like take a hot shower or watch TV, but really that's all it was for us personally. I definitely won't complain one bit!
I've got more stories and photos about how we kept ourselves and two toddlers entertained for 6 days of no power... but more on that in a few days.
Friday, April 22, 2011
What I'm making this weekend...
There are so many things that I want to work on right now... and for some reason I keep looking at even more cool ideas. I am really bad at finding lots of project ideas, then never getting around to actually making them. My most recent obsession has been crochet hats and flowers :)
Despite all of the fabulous ideas out there, I really can only do so much... so here are my to-do's for this weekend.
Please excuse the cell phone photo for now... This is why I really want to get some good ones of it being worn tomorrow :)
Cute huh? It's so super soft too! I absolutely LOVE the cotton yarn that I used for this... I wish it came in more colors (maybe it does, and my store just didn't have them all), I'm thinking this is my new go-to yarn for anything baby/kid related. Oh... it's I Love This Cotton Yarn in Pistachio for the main hat and Pink for the light pink flowers. The dark pink is just something extra that I had in my stash - I can't remember what it is, but it's not nearly as soft.
Anyway, it's looking like it will be a pretty busy weekend so far. In the morning I think I'll pack up the girls and go do a little bit of shopping. I totally need a new pair of denim capri pants to wear... my ones from last year are TOO BIG! (awesome huh?!). While I'm out with the girls I think I'll leave my husband home to mow the yard. :) Then hopefully the rest of the day I'll be able to get a little bit of cleaning and stuff done around the house and of course work some on the projects listed above.
Sunday will be very busy! We'll be heading over to see both sides of the family - lunch at one house, dinner at the other. My only concern is when will the girls get their nap? I really didn't think it through when I committed us to go to both places. Oh well, it will work out just fine :)
I'll be back with some updates about the projects as soon as they get finished :)
Despite all of the fabulous ideas out there, I really can only do so much... so here are my to-do's for this weekend.
- Netbook Case - A friend at work asked if we (me & my DesiLea Boutique business partner) could make her a netbook case. This was right about the time that we had come across this tutorial for an iPad Case. I'm going to follow the basic rules of the tutorial but adjust the size to fit the dimensions of the netbook. I promised to bring this finished on Monday, so it has to be the top priority on my craft list this weekend :) I can't wait to see how it turns out! Stay tuned!
- This Sweet Hat - Awesome huh? I've been wanting to make one of these cute brimmed hats ever since I first saw them. I like to try a newborn size first to get a feel for the pattern, since that's the smallest size. This first one (if all goes well) will turn into a sweet gift for a friend's new nephew who should be born any day now. I can't wait to see how this turns out!
Cute huh? It's so super soft too! I absolutely LOVE the cotton yarn that I used for this... I wish it came in more colors (maybe it does, and my store just didn't have them all), I'm thinking this is my new go-to yarn for anything baby/kid related. Oh... it's I Love This Cotton Yarn in Pistachio for the main hat and Pink for the light pink flowers. The dark pink is just something extra that I had in my stash - I can't remember what it is, but it's not nearly as soft.
Anyway, it's looking like it will be a pretty busy weekend so far. In the morning I think I'll pack up the girls and go do a little bit of shopping. I totally need a new pair of denim capri pants to wear... my ones from last year are TOO BIG! (awesome huh?!). While I'm out with the girls I think I'll leave my husband home to mow the yard. :) Then hopefully the rest of the day I'll be able to get a little bit of cleaning and stuff done around the house and of course work some on the projects listed above.
Sunday will be very busy! We'll be heading over to see both sides of the family - lunch at one house, dinner at the other. My only concern is when will the girls get their nap? I really didn't think it through when I committed us to go to both places. Oh well, it will work out just fine :)
I'll be back with some updates about the projects as soon as they get finished :)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A little bit of crochet
By now you've noticed that I am fairly random with my craft projects. I try lots of different things and tend to be a little scattered. It's just something different to keep me from getting bored. :)
Last week I got a text message from a friend asking me to whip up a gift for a baby shower. So I started brainstorming and eventually decided to make a cute little crochet baby hat.
What do you think? It's super soft and I'm surprised at how cute it turned out. A little secret... I've never made a complete crochet hat before this one. I'm so happy it ended up being cute, because I was really starting to run out of alternative ideas for baby headwear. For some reason I kept focusing back on the crochet
Of course, after that I browsed around a bit more and looked to see what other free patterns I could find. I came across ravelry.com and found lots of really awesome project ideas. Revelry is a community sire for knit and crochet enthusiasts. Luckily there were tons of awesome beginner patterns to choose from.
I came across another really cute hat pattern that i decided to try for my girls. It seemed more appropriate for this time of year because it's more of an open stitched hat... I leaves a bit of breathing room. Of course, not that I'll likely have much luck getting either of my girls to keep this new hat on their heads for very long, but I've got something cute at least that maybe I can bribe them into wearing for at least a few photos.
I'll share more about that later... After I finish a second one for the other kid :). Hopefully with several. Cute photos of them actually being worn.
Last week I got a text message from a friend asking me to whip up a gift for a baby shower. So I started brainstorming and eventually decided to make a cute little crochet baby hat.
What do you think? It's super soft and I'm surprised at how cute it turned out. A little secret... I've never made a complete crochet hat before this one. I'm so happy it ended up being cute, because I was really starting to run out of alternative ideas for baby headwear. For some reason I kept focusing back on the crochet
Of course, after that I browsed around a bit more and looked to see what other free patterns I could find. I came across ravelry.com and found lots of really awesome project ideas. Revelry is a community sire for knit and crochet enthusiasts. Luckily there were tons of awesome beginner patterns to choose from.
I came across another really cute hat pattern that i decided to try for my girls. It seemed more appropriate for this time of year because it's more of an open stitched hat... I leaves a bit of breathing room. Of course, not that I'll likely have much luck getting either of my girls to keep this new hat on their heads for very long, but I've got something cute at least that maybe I can bribe them into wearing for at least a few photos.
I'll share more about that later... After I finish a second one for the other kid :). Hopefully with several. Cute photos of them actually being worn.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
I finally sewed something!
Its been about a week or more since I've actually sewed anything... Or made anything crafty at all. I guess I just needed a break. Today I finally dug out a project that I had cut out a few weeks ago because it has to be finished this week. So I did make a bit of progress on that project... More about that later :)
I have been thinking about making myself a sleeve or case for my new iPad since before I ever bought it. I haven't wanted to take my iPad anywhere outside of the house because I don't have any sort of protective cover, screen protector or anything.
After a weeks worth of browsing online for the perfect protective case, I finally placed my order on Amazon last night... So that is on the way :)
So tonight since I had the sewing machine out... I decided to throw together a quick little iPad sleeve. I wasn't intended to be anything fancy, just something to protect against scratches and offer a little padding when I want to carry my iPad outside of the house.
Cute huh? I'll be making another one of these this week and I'll actually take photos to do a tutorial...so check back for more details.
This one is double lined/padded with felt and has a Velcro closure. It took probably about 5-10 minutes to make, and that was with making up the steps as I went along. So once you know the steps, you can probably make it in under 5 minutes. How's that for a simple project?
I've got a few more ideas to make this even a little more useful so maybe I'll include those with the tutorial.
On another note, I am sitting here watching Extreme Couponing for the first time. I've heard a lot about this show but hadn't seen it until now... All I can say is that this is CRAZY! Honestly, what do you need with 60 bottles of mustard when you don't even eat mustard? It is pretty awesome how you can work the system though to get all these things for practically nothing.
I have been thinking about making myself a sleeve or case for my new iPad since before I ever bought it. I haven't wanted to take my iPad anywhere outside of the house because I don't have any sort of protective cover, screen protector or anything.
After a weeks worth of browsing online for the perfect protective case, I finally placed my order on Amazon last night... So that is on the way :)
So tonight since I had the sewing machine out... I decided to throw together a quick little iPad sleeve. I wasn't intended to be anything fancy, just something to protect against scratches and offer a little padding when I want to carry my iPad outside of the house.
Cute huh? I'll be making another one of these this week and I'll actually take photos to do a tutorial...so check back for more details.
This one is double lined/padded with felt and has a Velcro closure. It took probably about 5-10 minutes to make, and that was with making up the steps as I went along. So once you know the steps, you can probably make it in under 5 minutes. How's that for a simple project?
I've got a few more ideas to make this even a little more useful so maybe I'll include those with the tutorial.
On another note, I am sitting here watching Extreme Couponing for the first time. I've heard a lot about this show but hadn't seen it until now... All I can say is that this is CRAZY! Honestly, what do you need with 60 bottles of mustard when you don't even eat mustard? It is pretty awesome how you can work the system though to get all these things for practically nothing.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
we went to the park
To be perfectly honest, I haven't really done any sewing this past week. I just haven't been in the right mood. I've got a few things started but just haven't been in the mood to continue them just yet. Oh well, they will get done!
So instead of sharing something fun and crafty, I'm going to just share something fun :)
It's been crazy at our house this week. The girls have taken turns being brats (usually it's just one at a time thankfully). Mostly their moods seem to be due to lack of naps (or quality naps) during the day. Here's hoping things work out better this next week.
Anyway, I was determined to get these girls outside during the beautiful weather we were having this weekend. We did have to run a few errands though, and so I wasn't quite sure we would fit it all in. We didn't make it over to the park before nap time like originally planned (they fell asleep in the car on our way to the park), so we made plans to take them back out after they napped and grab a bit of dinner to take home.
I'm so glad we made it out... and that I remembered to bring my camera :)
NK had a great time running back and forth between the different play sets.
She loved the duck (one of those metal animals on the spring)
And looked like a movie star in my sunglasses :)
SQ spent most of her time looking like this - a little scared by all the other big kids running around. We had to hold her for the first bit of the time we were there, until Daddy took her down the slide. After that she loosened up a bit and at least walked around on her own.
THIS is my absolute favorite capture from the day. Not quite sure about what it is, but I think it turned out great. I don't usually like turning my camera crooked when I take a photo, but for some reason this just works for me.
I did eventually get both of the girls in the swings for a bit. SQ FINALLY had a great time and spent the whole time that she was swinging, giggling :) I'm so glad she finally got into it!
Of course, NK pitched a fit when it was time to leave - as expected. But we made it out, and were able to make our last two stops before we headed home.
What a day! I'm so glad we were finally able to get out of the house and let the kids run around (or at least one of them run) and do something different. Hopefully next time SQ will be in a better mood and end up having more fun.
So instead of sharing something fun and crafty, I'm going to just share something fun :)
It's been crazy at our house this week. The girls have taken turns being brats (usually it's just one at a time thankfully). Mostly their moods seem to be due to lack of naps (or quality naps) during the day. Here's hoping things work out better this next week.
Anyway, I was determined to get these girls outside during the beautiful weather we were having this weekend. We did have to run a few errands though, and so I wasn't quite sure we would fit it all in. We didn't make it over to the park before nap time like originally planned (they fell asleep in the car on our way to the park), so we made plans to take them back out after they napped and grab a bit of dinner to take home.
I'm so glad we made it out... and that I remembered to bring my camera :)
NK had a great time running back and forth between the different play sets.
I did eventually get both of the girls in the swings for a bit. SQ FINALLY had a great time and spent the whole time that she was swinging, giggling :) I'm so glad she finally got into it!
Of course, NK pitched a fit when it was time to leave - as expected. But we made it out, and were able to make our last two stops before we headed home.
What a day! I'm so glad we were finally able to get out of the house and let the kids run around (or at least one of them run) and do something different. Hopefully next time SQ will be in a better mood and end up having more fun.
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