Here comes the grass!

I knew it was coming, it was inevitable. We just get our snow shovels put away and now it's time for the lawn mower. Even though it was just sleeting yesterday, the grass is growing and growing. So today will be tractor day. I can't complain, after 6 feet of snow, it is so nice to see green.

BUT FIRST, I am going to treat myself to some sewing time. It's been ages since I have done any sewing and it's killing me!  I have been working on a shirt from Amy Butler, the Liverpool Tunic

Need to finish up the buttonholes and hem the bottom and it's done. I hate when I am so close to the finish line with a project and just can't seem to get it done.

Easy Peesy Easter Eggs.

These adorable eggs were so quick and easy to make. Plus they didn't cost a fortune! This would be the perfect springtime activity for kids. It contains all the fun stuff kids love and with a little supervision, you'll have a great Easter centerpiece.

I found the two piece Easter eggs at my local Walmart. You know the kind that open to two pieces to be filled with candy and goodies. I choose the metallic ones because I wanted the shiny color to show through the glitter. Aleene's Tacky glue, and the type of glitter I used is actually not a glitter at all, but evenly sized chunks of acrylic used as vase filler. I ordered mine online at Save On Crafts. Plus you will need a brush to apply the glue, a few toothpicks to stand the eggs on and a Styrofoam block as a place to poke the toothpicks into while the glue and glitter dry.

The construction of these eggs is so easy and I had fun making them. It made me fill like a kid again. Shiny colors, glue and glitter. What could be better?

My eggs came with small holes in the bottoms to allow air to escape when you closed them. If yours don't have a small hole, it's quite easy to make one by heating up a small nail or pin and pushing it through the bottom. Just remember to hold your nail with pliers before you heat it! I pushed a toothpick into the bottom,  liberally applied the Tacky glue all around the egg and rolled the egg in the glitter which I had placed in a bowl. I found the the chunky glitter I used needed a bit of help sticking, so I had to press in into place as a rolled it. Then I stood each glittered egg in the foam blocks I had and allowed to dry. Mine took 48 hours to completely dry and become clear again.

And there you have it. A super simple, very pretty centerpiece for a few dollars and time spent having some fun!

How I Fell Out of Love with HGTV & TLC

Okay, is it me or do these 2 channels really suck now? I remember spending hours in front of the tube watching all these crafty shows on HGTV. After a few hours of that, my mind was swirling with ideas and the creative juices were flowing. I think a better name for the channel now would be "The Real Estate Channel". Let's face it, just about every show on there has something to do with flipping houses, buying, selling real estate and improving the "Curb Appeal" of your home. What ever happened to the idea of people staying in their homes and wanting help with decorating. Perhaps HGTV doesn't read the headlines and realize that most people are staying in their homes or desperately trying to hang on to them. We aren't hiring landscapers to come in to bull doze the place and dump 50 grand into the front yard.

Now for TLC. I could go on for hours about this channel. I am about to date myself, but I remember when TLC aired programs like "The Secret Life Of Machines" and other entertaining and educational programs. If you have never had the good fortune of seeing the original program, you have missed out on some of the best humor and fun television ever out there. Can someone PLEASE tell me what's up with midget TV now? I know that there are small people out there. You know that there are small people out there. But really, night after night of programs revolving around small people. I am sure that if I were to work out the percentage of small people versus normal stature people, the numbers are way out of balance for this much TV coverage.

Or I can run around, jacked up on some drug, get knocked up and not know it, go the the hospital and let them film the birth of the baby I didn't know I was carrying in my body for nine months. Keep doing this till I rack up 20 or 30 kids, which incidentally will all be midgets, let them film the kids taking a c**p for all of America to witness, all this time wearing a few burlap sacs so the fashion police (who could pass for bride of Frankenstein) can dress me even more like a clown, of course after a barrage of insults.

I could go on and on. I would faithfully surf these channels, sure to find something to watch, but now I don't even bother. Voyeurism television just isn't for me!

Spring Cleaning

The snow is finally melting and I have the spring cleaning bug! First up is my sewing room which looks like the blizzard happened indoors. I have so many new patterns I want to  make so that I can have a decent spring/summer wardrobe and I can't get to the machines. Not to mention the pile of UFO's that I am itching to get at.

Can't wait to get into the garden, but thats a long ways off. Seed starting will begin soon so that will help to hold me over until I can get out and get dirty!

So This Is Spring?

Well, just when we were flipping through the seed catalogs and dreaming of the warm sweet breeze of spring; THIS CAME ALONG! Ok, here in Upstate NY we are used to snow, lots of snow, but not 6 feet all at once. I would like to say that I got gobs of fun stuff done, like a new spring wardrobe sewn up and 10 quilts quilted; but no. When this much snow falls all at once, life becomes all consumed by it. Just getting to our cars and clearing the driveway took 2 days of snow removal. Even the plow got stuck in the snow! Forget just letting the dogs out to go do their business because there is no more fence. It's somewhere under all that white stuff.

On the upside, this will back spring all that much better. I thought I had the gardening bug before, now I am insane with it. I go to the garden store just to sniff bags of dirt! The birds are singing their hearts out and we all know what that means, so I know it's there.

So now I am looking forward to getting some "Real" sewing done. Need new clothes for the glorious warm weather and it's time to get to work.

New Site for DIY'ers

I am revising this post. I have given the site DIY Dish a chance and it's not for me. When the dynamic duo sisters first came on the scene I was very hopeful. They gave me the feeling that they were about the crafting community, sharing ideas and having fun doing it. Well a couple of months into it and the true colors are showing. They are all about the money. Dvd's about summer kids crafts, emails advertising sponsor sites still available on their blog, of course at affordable rates, and every craft they feature now, is a product from one of their sponsors. Very disappointing.


There is a new site I wanted to share with everyone. The DIY Dish . This site looks to be very promising. Not only is it just the "stuff" I love, but these two girls are absolutely adorable. Their mom must be so proud! I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. I am sure with their energy and charm, it will be wonderful.

Cold, cold , cold

Well, it would seem we are well on our way into winter in the Northeast. Christmas is 2 weeks away and I just don't feel ready to deal with it yet. I will be on wood stove duty till April.

Yesterday dear hubby and I celebrated our 24th Wedding Anniversary. Went to our favorite lunch spot and had the greatest Gyro's. So yummy!

Currently working on a beautiful quilt project from Crabapple Hill pattern, Over The River and Through The Woods I adore her designs. I wanted this pattern for the longest time now and finally gave in and bought myself this gift along with others! Midnight Crow and Trick or Treat bags. I am making the quilt in the black & neutral color scheme just as pictured and then sometime down the road, I want to do it in reds and neutrals. Another biggie pattern purchase was Le Jardin from Bunny Hill Designs. These two companies make my heart flutter every time I see a new pattern. Just so classy and vintage. Right up my alley. I have been really smitten with the new fabric line from Moda, Rouenneries. In my opinion, this is one of the prettiest lines of fabric to come out in a very long time. Between the fabric and the Le Jardin pattern, I had to have it.

Great movie alert! Julie & Julia. This was such a cute movie. The acting was superb and the characters were really enjoyable. If you feel like being entertained without blood and guts or alien invasions, this is a sure bet.

Anyone else out there using Ubuntu?

I have recently installed Ubuntu on my computer, partly because I wanted to get away from Windows and partly because a virus was running a muck in my puter. Again, another reason why I wanted to get away from Windows and all it's vulnerabilities.

For the most part I am loving it. The clean, streamline design has just about all I could need and the program hasn't cluttered up my computer. There are some draw backs though. Of course my printer isn't compatible with the program and Dell is know for not writing new code for existing products. Hp is the same way. Ask me how I know. Cause this printer was purchased to replace a older HP printer that didn't have any new drivers available to update for the newer windows programs. But on the brighter side, this will keep from from hitting the print button for every little thing I see, that of course I am going to make someday but never do. I haven't even tried the photo software yet. I have a Sony digital camera, but because it's a few years old, I am sure it will not work too. I will just have to bog dear hubbies laptop down with all my trivial programs.

I still have loads to learn about this and I find the more I try, the better it is getting. If anyone out there knows any tricks, please send them along. I would love to meet folks that are using Ubuntu. Tags: Ubuntu,

Flea Market Find

I found this adorable chest of drawers at a flea market a while back for $2.00. Can you believe it? It's about 8 inches tall and 3 inches deep, solid wood with metal hardware. With a little TLC I think this will be perfect for all those loose buttons and other goodies. I will have to clean the hardware up and give the chest a new coat of paint. I am thinking Shabby Chic. I will definitely have fun dressing this little baby up!

Just Had To Have Some

Of course, me being the total Poodle devotee, I just had to own a piece of this fabric. If I were to confess I would own everything POODLE! Not really sure what I will make with it. I will hang on to it to make sure that it goes to the "perfect" project. I just love the retro look of this fabric. It really brings back so many memories of my childhood and the styles that were so popular back then. I am so glad to see that these prints are becoming available again.

So Cute!

I finally found these zippers. I have searched high and low and no one seems to carry them here in the states. I came across them totally by accident while browsing Esty shops. These came from Japan and the price including shipping was very reasonable. They are going to be the perfect addition to little pouches I have in mind.

Change is in the air

I have been so busy around the house that I haven't had the time to devote to the improvements to the blog. But they are coming. I even found this neat thing on the web called "HassleBot". It sends you a reminder email to try to help keep us on track. The email is whatever you type in and the reminders come when you specify. It is working and in some odd way it is motivating me to GET MORE DONE!

What's been keeping me from my blog is my house. First it started with the deck needing to be repainted, then it has lead to the kitchen being repainted. But first I needed to redo the pantry. Well actually I am moving the pantry. That all started many years ago when we ungraded to a larger fridge. This monster doesn't fit where the old one was, so it has been in the way ever since we got it. I won't even tell you how long that's been. But what I want to do is use the old pantry area for the fridge, which will only require a few inches of enlargement to the opening and turn my mud room into a new walk in pantry. Plus I have been trying to keep the grass cut and get a veggie garden going. I have way to many sewing projects back up. Many of them are new summer clothes for me since I have nothing to wear. I keep chipping away at all these things and am slowly making progress. Oh, plus the new handbag that I started. It's 65% done and I really want it finished.

Trying Out ScribeFire

I came across this great new gadget for posting right to your blog from your desktop. Now I am sure there are loads of these things out there, but this one works right along with Firefox and just sits quietly in the lower toolbar when not needed. So this is me trial run to see how well it works.

Working To Improve Blog

I have been doing a complete re-do of my blog. I am hoping it gets better soon. I really wasn't happy with the way it looked and it really needed some dressing up. I have so much to post and have put it off knowing I was going to take everything apart. So I am hoping in the next couple of days to get back on schedule here and get it done right. LOL We'll see. Of course that also means having to add a lot of the stuff back, all in all I am happy that I am basically starting new. I have learned a bit about blogging and where I want to go with this since I first started, so now I am going to have the new and improved version. I plan on adding tutorials and free patterns, lots of stuff. So check back soon!

Recession Buster Boxers

I am just finishing up 3 pairs of boxers for my son. Let me start by explaining. My son, like so many of the fashion savvy teenagers out there, was buying boxers at Abercrombie and Hollister. Well, when I saw the price tag I almost fell over. $22.00 per pair. So good old mom started the internet search for the perfect boxer pattern. I found it at Timber Lake patterns

IT'S FREAKIN COLD OUT!!

Ok, I have all been really patient. I've been wrapped in layers. I've carried enough wood into the house to build a small farm house. I have spread more enough salt to eat threw 3 inches of ice. Now I have started talking to the walls. Where is warm weather?????

Can you tell it's Cabin Fever Season in the northeast? this is the worst time of winter for me. I guess because I know we are getting so close to warmer temps. During the day the sun warms things up, but boy the nights are still real cold. Plus we are known for our wind here. I'm not talking small breeze, but wind that takes your breathe away when it smacks you in the face!

It's been a while since I posted. I have a few things I have been working on, one I think might be helpful for some. Deconstructing a favorite piece of clothing to make a pattern out of it. It all started with a favorite pair of flannel pj bottoms that I have worn to bare thread. So during these very tight times, I thought I would get crafty and make my own. I love to sew and quick projects like this are always good for fast pay-off.

I will have to finish that post off and get it up here.

I have also been working with micro scope slides. Doing a mixed media sort of thing. Need to get them done too.

Other then that, I have been doing a lot of staring out the window and planning the veggie garden. Can't wait to get out there again. Gosh summer is never long enough.

Recycle those old PJ"s MAKE YOUR OWN!

I have had a pair on pj bottoms that I have been using for years. You know how it is, you finely find that one pair that are "oh so comfortable" and they are always the first you reach for in the clean clothes pile.

Well my old favorites had finally gotten to the point where they needed to become flannel dust rags. But I love those pants! So I will show you how to take that pair of comfy pj bottoms and make your own reusable pattern out of them. Never again will you have to fork over $40.00 for another pair when you can make your own for just a few bucks.

There are a few basic things you will need. You don't have to be a talented seamstress, but basic knowledge of a sewing machine and a few basic sewing tools are all you will need. Because I do a great deal of sewing, I have some items in my arsenal that you may not have, but don't let that stop you, these really are very simple to make.

Your going to need your old pair of pj bottoms that you want to recreate
a seam ripper
sewing machine
marker or pen for tracing
Swedish pattern paper.
(Don't worry if you don't have that, you can use brown or tissue paper. Just as long as your paper is wide enough and long enough for your fabric pieces to fit on. Brown shipping paper can be purchased by the roll which will work fine)
thread
fabric of your chose, I used flannel
scissors
pins

Sassy Lashes

This is my craft room mascot. She is so cute? I made her awhile back and she is finally making her debut.

She was my first attempt at making stuffed animals. I have a few more I want to try and I am hoping now that winter has set in I will have time.

Cute & Easy Potholders

I thought these were so cute I just had to post them. They were super easy to make and would be great as a quick gift idea. I bought it as a kit from Fabric Depot, but they could be done without a kit just as easily. I just loved the pink, white and black dog fabric and had to have a pair of my own.

I guess winter is coming!

Living in the Northeast, I find we all tend to wish the winter away just a bit longer, knowing all along that she's coming whether we like it or not. So my dear hubby has been business getting the firewood stacked while I have been winterizing the indoors and cleaning leaves. We live in the northern Catskill Mountains and our seasons change much sooner then the lower lying areas around us. Our fall colors are probably the best I have ever seen, but they are long gone and the black and white world of winter has arrived. There's even snow in the forecast!

Because of this black and white world we have to spend 6 months in, I had decided I would make a warm, cozy quilt. It had to be full of color, bright and happy. I had seen rag quilts in a few stores, but they all had a color theme. I wanted something that was really going to jump out and say "Hey look at me!". So I decided on all bright colored flannels, some prints, some solids, but the theme had to be bright. So off I went to the store and happened to find a spectacular sale on flannels. I shopped and shopped and shopped till I had what I thought would be enough.

Now I don't know how many others suffer from my syndrome, but it seems that when I start out on a project it all seems do-able. But it never stays small for long. Before I knew it, the crazy little voice in my head decided it needed to be a king size rag quilt, so that no drafty backs or cold necks would plague use during the winter. So what started out as a" I want to try making a rag quilt", turned into a king size monster.

I cut and cut and cut some more. Did the math, thought I had it all figured. I found myself getting bored with the whole project, but stuck with it. It was so big, that I could only plan one row at a time. After each row was sewn together, I would lay that one out and then plan my second row. This went on for what seemed like forever. Finally the construction phase was complete. Ah, but just when there seemed to be light at the end of the rag quilt tunnel, the cutting still had to be done. I clipped and clipped. I clipped so much that I had a welt on the fingers that go in the scissors and had to break the process down into a couple of days. Finally finished! Now for the washing. One of the most important tips I had learned while purchasing the flannel for this quilt was how and where to wash it. While having all my fabric measured and cut, the store assistant asked what I wash making. When I told her a rag quilt, she told me that when I was done, make sure to take it to the laundromat to launder it. Use one of those big machines so that it really gets agitated. The real plus to this advise was the fact that she had met so many people who had destroyed their home machines with all the bits of string that work free from the fringe. So I pass this tidbit of info on to all those who someday find themselves making the monster rag quilt.

My Experiment with Paverpol

For awhile now I have been looking at this product called "Paverpol". It is supposed to dry "rock hard" and with an additive called "Paverplast" it can also be waterproof. The cost of it seemed pretty high, but I was really itching to try this stuff out. I read all I could about it and ordered mine from Dharma Trading. I wanted to make a garden statue. To start I needed a few basic things besides the Paverpol and Paverplast. The list of items I used were clothes hangers for the basic form, aluminum fool, a piece of wood for a base, dowel, drill, strips of old white t-shirts, white gauze fabric, something to resemble hair (I used Wensleydale fleece) dry powder dye to color the Paverpol( I chose black because I wanted my finished statue to resemble bronze), rubber gloves, black spray paint, burnishing paint and varnish or something to seal the burnished surface. I made my form out of wire clothes hangers. If you want to make your life easier, I suggest using armature wire. The clothes hangers were a bit hard to work with and my hands needed a rest after I got through with shaping my lady statue. At this point I was the brunt of many alien jokes in our house. My lady form was resting on the desk in the living room and every time my husband or son passed her, I was told how I was starting a new art form and that spaceships were going to be hovering over our house.

I think the guys are right, she really does look very alien!

Now I was ready to begin! I started by mixing the Paverplast powder into the bucket of Paverpol. This takes some mixing to making sure there are no dry lumps of powder. Then I tinted the whole thing with the black dye. This took a lot longer then I had imagined. At this point, the Paverpol was beginning to get really thick. On it's own, it resembled white glue, but once the dry Paverplast was mixed in, it lost it's spread ability. If I were to ever do this again, I would definitely have a small bucket of Paverpol on hand to add to the large tinted bucket to make it more fluid again. But being my first time, I forged ahead convinced I could make this work. I measured the dowel to run along one of her legs, and left a bit more to be able to insert it into a hole I would drill into the wooden base. I taped the dowel to the leg, held her to the base to get an idea of where I wanted to drill my hole, drilled a hole just a bit smaller than the dowel, and viola, she was standing on her own. This is were I thought it was going to get fun. I started to dip the strips of cotton t-shirt into the Paverpol. My paverpol was so thick that I had to manually push the stuff into the fabric strips. My idea of rubber gloves went out the window about 5 minutes later because the only thing picking up the Paverpol was the gloves. (Now I have done a great deal of dyeing before, having owned my own sheep and doing a great deal of hand-dyeing of wool and fabric, so I knew what this meant. But I was going to make this work) So in plunged the hands. Trying to spread this thick gelatinous mass was really beginning to tick me off. No matter what I did, the strips were gumming up, twisting, just becoming an unworkable mess. So I decided that much shorter pieces would work better. The shorter strips did become more manageable. I kept at it until I felt that her form was well covered to make her sturdy without making her looking to bulbous once I draped her gauze(dress) layer on her. Now onto the gauze. This was even more difficult to work with because I couldn't work with small pieces. To achieve the flowing dress form that I had in my head, I needed these pieces to be long. But working the Paverpol into the fabric with my hands I managed to get a good, even coat onto all pieces. I first started with the top half of her form since the raw edges would be covered with the gown part of the dress. I had to manipulate the fabric quite a bit to get the creases I wanted to fall from her shoulders. All the while I am getting more and more anxious about time, thinking that the longer I take the thicker this stuff is getting.Working carefully, but quickly, I achieved the flowing gown look I wanted. At this point, I have had enough. I'm beginning to think that a garden statue was really a bad idea and that a bald alien might not be so bad after all. Ah, but the guys. If I give up now all their alien jokes will haunt me forever. How bad could the hair be? After all, I made it this far. Well the Wensleydale fleece has an incredible curl to it. This type of fleece is known for the great 12 to 15 inch length with bologna curl all the way threw it. This was exactly the look I wanted to finish off my little lady. I dip the first bunch of fleece into the Paverpol. Ha! DIP? It laid on the top of the black, glob like mess. So I try to work the Paverpol threw the hair. Well it's so heavy that all it does is make the hair look like a stringy mess with absolutely no curl. I decide I can attach the fleece curls with the Paverpol and then go back and use the black spray paint to coat it while keeping the curl. That did work much better as I was able to keep the curl in the locks of fleece.

Ok, now she's dressed, but she's looking a bit like a old witch. Hey maybe she's for Halloween.

I took a long break from my Lady. I have been applying the finish to her. In my mind I want to make her look like old bronze or even old copper, but at this point I am not sure what I am coming up with. I used a product called "Rub n Buff" for the finish. It's a wax with pigment added. I choose two colors for this project. European Gold and Turquoise. It works really good and is very forgiving. I was able to get as little or as much color and coverage that I wanted with patience and a good deal of rubbing. I guess that's how it got it's name! The picture really doesn't do this product justice, but it really did give the look for a old copper or bronze surface. I first applied the Turquoise wax in any of the areas that looked like they wouldn't have been touched in years. (Indents, crevices, cracks in the surface) I buffed that out and then applied the gold over it, rubbing away so that bits of the turouise would show through. I was pleased with the finished look. Now if only I would finish her. I'm sure this product is available in lots of places, but I got mine through Dick Blick art supplies. One of my most favorite sites in the www universe.

Now to name her. Not sure what I will call her. She will eventually hold a small dish or basket in her hands. That was my reason for shaping the arms that way. For now she will have to sleep for awhile, as we are going into winter and I really don't want to make single digit temperatures and snow part of the experiment to see how well she can hold up to the elements. Winter will give me time to finish the small areas that need color and then I will have to seal it a matte spray.

A Real "Guy" Quilt

This is a quilt I made for my husband about 6 months ago. It's from the "Strip Club" pattern series. This particular pattern is called "Strip Poker". The fabric is a beautiful line from Moda called Canoe Country. It was a really quick, easy project and the end result was great. I backed it with a woodies flannel which I thought was perfect for a "guy" quilt. The beauty of making this quilt was that it is long enough to cover all 6' 3" of my husband when he's in his recliner.

Where is spring!

I know it's only February, but I am so ready for spring. I have a full blown case of cabin fever! Today I plan on cutting out a new quilt and I hope to start sewing it by this afternoon. But I think I am getting ahead of myself. The quilt is going to help me to use up some of the fabric I have been accumulating over the years. I am addicted to fabric. I just love the new prints that are coming out. But unfortunately I love too many of them. I will post pictures as I make progress.

How to Gather Fabric into Ruffles - wikiHow

How to Gather Fabric into Ruffles - wikiHow

How to Make a Voodoo Doll - wikiHow

How to Make a Voodoo Doll - wikiHow