Making progress

Progress is being made around here-both on the crafty front and on the recovery front. I'm just about all better (YAY!).

I finished this little quilt over the weekend. It's a Bare Roots pattern. I just love those patterns! Thank you, so much, Jenny, for sharing it with me!! (Jenny keeps hers on her kitchen table and you can catch glimpses of it in the backround of many of her pictures)

I wanted to make progress on the Wild Things quilt but we were out and about most of the weekend and I needed something portable. The Wild Things quilt is at a stage where it isn't portable. It's on the agenda for this week though.

I also started on this Annie embroidery (from a free pattern) in the interest of portability. It's for a future project-a quilted wallhanging for my bathroom, which is decorated in Annies and quilts. I don't usually embroider before putting the quilt top together. But I had to grab something fast and it was all I could think to pack. I can't leave the house without a project, you know!

I've also started on a little jute basket. I usually have a simple crochet project in the works. They get worked on when I'm sitting on the deck drip-drying after swimming or when I'm sneaking in a few minutes of crafting in bed by very dim light (so as to not wake the husband).

Giveaway packages are on their way!

It took me a bit longer than it should have, but the giveaway packages are on their way! I hope the recipients enjoy their goodies!!!

Not much going on here. Still feeling poopy. I'm headed back to the doctor tonight since I have one more dose of antibiotics to take and the sore throat, fever, and fatigue have returned. The rash from Hades has just started to take leave, so there's no way I'm going to take a "wait and see" approach. This has, by far, been the worst rash I've ever experienced in my life. I'll be shocked if I don't end up with permanent scars.

Oh well, I'm sure no one wants to hear me whine. I have no cheese to go with the whine (wine) anyway. :-) I hope y'all are having a great Wednesday!!

Edited to add an update: I just got back from the Dr. and the strep is gone!! YAY!! I just have a secondary yeast infection on the insane rash and where the throat spots were. I've got cream and pills and should be back to normal soon!! :-)

Harry Potter Day

We don't expect to see much of Isabelle today. The UPS truck came by with the final book in the series about 9am this morning.

Last night we all went to see the latest movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. Or, as Mason calls it, Harry Potter and the Order of the Felix.

Other than that, not much has gone on here the past week. I've been sick and have tried to stay dosed up on as much benadryl as a human body can handle to take the edge off the scarlet fever rash that accompanied the strep throat. Antibiotics took care of the throat issue but, apparently, the rash has to run its course. Bleck.

I wasn't getting much sympathy at home until I pointed out that scarlet fever is what led to Beth's demise (in Little Women). Even Isabelle was able to deduce that with antibiotics, it wasn't nearly so dangerous. Her sympathy waned a bit when she figured that out. ;-)

The Wild Things quilt and I have plans to watch some movies in a bit though. I can't stay away from crafting for too long!

Just for fun I'll share some of the hilarious pictures I found on my camera just now.

Time for the drawing!!!

I went the lazy route this time with picking names. Rather than writing them all out, I was instant messaging with a friend and I said to her, "Pick three numbers between one and twenty.". And I only told her why after she had given me her picks. Which were 2, 5, and 17.

So Lisa, Leah, and Mrs. Royer...please send me an email ( PrincessNimbleThimble @ gmail.com -without the spaces, of course) with your mailing address!!

Crochet Pattern: My Favorite Dish/Washcloth

I'm not much for following patterns for things such as this, but my favorite way of working up a dishcloth has pretty much become a formal pattern. I tend to make them this way because they work up super fast, have a good "scrubby" texture, and are kind of pretty while still being completely utilitarian. So here goes...

A size H crochet hook

worsted weight cotton yarn (one small ball is exactly enough)

Ch 36.

Make 2 DC in 3rd ch from hook. Skip 2 ch, then SC in next ch. *skip 2 ch, 4 DC in next ch, skip 2 ch, SC in next ch.* Repeat ** until end of row. Ch 2, turn.

2 DC in first st (last sc of the last row). SC in the center of the 4DC-cluster (insert hook between the 2nd and 3rd DC). *4DC in next SC. SC in center of the next 4DC-cluster* Repeat ** until end of row. Ch2, turn.

Continue in this pattern until you have completed 20 rows.

At the end of the 20th row, ch 1, turn.

next row: sc in each stitch to corner (29sc). Ch 1. Make 29 sc along each of the remaining 3 sides with one ch in each corner. Then connect to the first sc with a sl st. Ch1, turn.

NOTE: The bottom edge where the beginning foundation chain is contains 33 sts. Just skip a few for a total of 29 sts.

Picot edge:

Sc in first st. Ch 3, sl st in the same sp as the sc you just made. *SC in the next 3 sts. Ch 3, sl st in the sam sp as the last sc.* Repeat ** until you've covered all 4 sides. Connect last st to first sc with a sl st. Bind off.

Weave in loose ends.

Now go clean something :-D

GiveAway Time...times three!

I'm still blown away that people actually take the time to read my blabbering and look at my projects. Seriously. One of the reasons I started blogging was that I was sure my message board friends were bored to death with me and my never-ending string of projects. So I figured I'd go off to some quiet corner of the internet and play quietly. Not bothering anyone. It amazes me that so many stop by on purpose! And so I'd like to offer another Thank you! for your friendship in the form of a giveaway.


If you've been reading here any length of time I'm sure you've noticed I usually have multiple projects going simultaneously. This is especially true when I have something in the works that it's a bit of a stretch for me. Like now. Often these little, easy-peasy projects are a sort of palate cleanser for me. Relaxing and soothing, they leave me mentally refreshed enough to deal with the projects that are mentally taxing.

Recently I've been on a roll with crocheting dishcloths. I'll have three separate packages to send off to three different people. And each will include:

*One crocheted washcloth

*Some lovely handmade soaps (not made by me...I'm still too afraid of lye!)

*A pair of earrings

*A crafty book from my stash, which desperately needs culling.

All you need to do to have your name added to the hat is reply to this thread. When replying, please mention where your crafty interests lie currently, so I can pick a book you'll hopefully enjoy! And if you have a color preference for earrings, mention that too!

I'll draw three names next Friday, July 20th!

Thank you, all, for stopping by!!

Finished!

Christiana's christening gown is all finished. The bonnet was an afterthought but it really seems to finish it off nicely, don'tcha think?

I ended up hemming it all by hand because a line of machine stitching just seemed wrong. And I don't know how to do a blind hem on the machine.

Oh! And there was a buttonhole emergency. I couldn't find the buttonhole foot to my machine that has one-step buttonhole capabilities. My other machine does horrid 4-step buttonholes that always look awful.


So I pulled out my handy-dandy embroidery book and followed the directions for making buttonholes by hand. And I thanked God that I'm the type who learns best from books. The buttonholes had to be done today. And you know what? In my opinion, it looked perfect. Not that my buttonhole making is flawless, but rather that the handmade buttonholes really suited the old-fashionedness of the dress.

All the leftover linen gets to stay here, too! I've been eyeing the instructions for cutwork in the embroidery book!

One big project finished...just one more to go (the Wild Things quilt!).

Checking in!

I've been crafting!!

Jewelry:



Embroidery for a friend's daughter's christening gown:



Working on sewing the gown itself is on today's agenda. And my friend is coming over tomorrow so we can finish up. The christening is this weekend!

And progress on the "Wild Things" quilt:



Don't mind the dampness on the monster's face. I had just "erased" the water soluble ink. All of the applique pieces that have been made so far are stitched down. The embroidery is almost finished. This monster needs some claws oh his feet and he'll be done. The other monster needs all of his embroidery. Then I just need to add all the greenery and stitch it down. Then piece the border. Then my favorite part...the quilting!



And just for fun I'll share what happens when a person stacks all of the beads they were playing with on top of the cart used to store the beads. And then moves the cart. As the wheel falls out. Tragedy. This happened more than a week ago and I still need to resort everything. I just scooped it up into one container and there it all still sits.

We're also experiencing pool tragedy here. Saturday I awoke to find the water had turned green. So I added a shock treatment. The green instantly disappeared but was immediately replaced with milky, cloudy water. I tried adding clarifier yesterday but messed up by adding way too much. Apparently I'm quite bad at guessing how many gallons of water the pool holds!

So the water is cloudy and over-chlorinated. I have no idea if it's ok to use or not. Which is a bummer as the pool is where I've been doing my exercise. (I'm still working on losing weight...down 44lbs so far!). I suppose I'll give it a few days and see if the cloudy goes away on it's own. All of the other water levels show to be perfect when I test them so maybe I just need to be patient. And do icky exercise in the meantime. Bleck!

Oh! Netflix finally decided it was my turn to see Miss Potter. I loved it!! Watched it twice this weekend.

And then, this morning, I received an email from The Fat Quarter Shop with their sales and new additions. I could not resist the Beatrix Potter Victorian Nursery line. So a "jolly pack" and half a yard of the green pansies fabric are on their way to me. YAY! I have this book of embroidery transfers that will go nicely!

Well I've got a bit of housework calling my name. Then it's on to sewing the christening gown. I should have more pictures very soon!

Still here

Thank you for all the commiseration regarding summer stealing all the crafty time. Of course, now that I know I'm not the only one, it's starting to feel like it's ok. Only it's not ok. I miss my crafty time.

I've been in serious deep-clean and declutter mode the past few days. That can't be a bad thing, even if it does infringe on potential crafty time.



I did, however, eek in a little. I had to finish this apron that was languishing as a UFO (unfinished object) so I could be cute while cleaning.

In the backround, off to the left, you can see some of the banana bread I made today. Somehow the 24 muffins have disappeared (I didn't even have one, I swear!) since this afternoon. But I also made 2 13x9 pans so there's plenty left.

Banana Bread

1 3/4 cups flour (2 cups if I use 3 bananas)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda (I use 1 1/2 tsp if I use 3 bananas)
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs (3 if I use 3 bananas)
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cups + 1 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mush bananas. Add wet ingredients. Mix. Then add dry ingredients (stir, shallowly, to disperse the baking soda within the dry ingredients) and mix together until just combined. Don't overmix. Bake at 325 degrees until it passes the toothpick test. Makes 18 muffins or one 13"x9" casserole pan (spray pan with oil spray before pouring batter in). Recipe does not double well so make one batch at a time.

Summer

Summer is seriously getting in the way of my crafting.



How can I complain though, with kids this cute?



I have, however, managed to get a few pretty necklaces finished and listed in my Etsy shop.

And a few more reminders of summer for those in the southern hemisphere.



These pictures were all taken in my backyard, where landscaping is, obviously, not a high priority.

Firsts

I'm about to start on a project that is a first for me. I'm delving a bit deeper into this world of quiting and am going to play with applique.

I'm not feeling nearly as confident as I usually am when trying something new. Usually I've ready a million and four books on the subject before I try something different. But this time I haven't read any books on the subject. Not one. Kinda scary.

I'm only working from a little snippet of information gleaned from this post on MiMi's blog that has been stuck in my brain ever since I first read it.

So here goes nothin'...

Also on the subject of "firsts":
It seems my homeschooled children have been deprived of the cafeteria lunch tray experience. We were at Target, checking out the summer clearance, and the kids went nutso over these trays. When were were paying, Mason even took it upon himself to explain to the cashier that these were trays just like the ones the kids who go to public school use for lunch. And then he mentioned something about "mystery meat". Silly guy!

Meet Felix

Felix is a doll that came to be about 7 or 8 years ago. He spent the first year or so as a blank body. But when Mason got to be around a year old I thought it was time he have a little boy doll. So Felix got finished.

Here he is wearing a pair of pants he's borrowed from a doll named Jo-Jo (who has taken to calling himself "fartin' Martin" lately and no longer wears this style of clothing). Felix is a bit of a nudist, usually. He had his own clothes at one point but we gave up on finding them.


He's had a rough life. Flannel, while soft, does not make for strong skin. Felix has had run-ins with markers and lived to tell the tale. Lately he's begun hanging around with fartin' Martin, who leads a much wilder life than dolls with flannel skin should emulate. But he thinks Martin is cool and he tries to keep up.

Recently Felix found himself with a 4" gash that went from the front of his middle to the back. The poor guy was near death. I managed to close the wound and he recovered.



Immediately following his release from the hospital Felix returned to living life to the hilt. To celebrate his recovery he went out and got a tattoo! Can you believe it?! Who knew Felix was so into the tropical look? I had no idea. And it does hide his scar nicely.

We're so glad Felix is doing so well. But we do hope he settles down just a little.

On another note, I've added lots and lots of new earrings to my Etsy shop!

I can't believe it's been a week!

Has it really been that long since I've posted?

I've had my nose to the grindstone this past week, working on a quilt. And it's finished! Christiana and her mama came by for a visit today so she got to take it home with her. That little babe is such a beauty!

Here are some pictures of the embroidery:





And just click here for a view of the back of the quilt, if that's your sort of thing (it's totally my thing...love the backs!).

It's been a long, long (fun!) day so a short post. Sorry to be so short after such a lapse. I'll be back with more tomorrow.

Revisiting the A-line skirt tutorial

I took new pictures and redid the A-line skirt tutorial. (link in sidebar as well) All the blurry pictures have been replaced with clear and neatly captioned photos. Yay!

(Tiarnna, time for you to get busy making skirts!!)

And here's me (fresh from a mile and a half walk, so be kind) in my new skirt.

And this picture is the perfect segue for mentioning why my crafting has slowed down lately. You see, I've been dieting. I started six weeks ago and have lost 27 pounds so far. I just made a page at SparkPeople.com. If you use their site to track as well you can find my page here if you want to be SparkPeople-friends. :-)

As of the beginning of June, I've been exercising. I've been walking after dinner. Often with the kids. And often with a stop at the playground-which just happens to be exactly 3/4 of a mile from our house.

My old routine was snuggling up next to my hubby to do some crafting while he watched tv. Yes, I watched some tv, too. But I mostly listened. But this new routine of walking all over creation has put a serious crimp in my crafting schedule.

I finished this little quilt over the weekend. It's just about 18" square. This one I'm keeping. It really is about time I keep one, I think. I hung it high up on the wall, above the hutch in the dining room (I still need to paint that thing!). I've had it in the back of my mind for a while now that a little something was needed up there. This fit the bill perfectly.


Today I'm trying to put the house back together from the long weekend. It's amazing how quickly chaos ensues! I should have it all back to normal sometime tonight. Which is good because we'll have a houseful of friends tomorrow. Fun!

I had many people (most are people I couldn't respond to via email) ask me just how I made my new banner. It's just a photo I took that I cropped to be short and wide. I had to play with the sizing a bit to get it just right. I had left it too large at first. And my photo program lets me add text to the picture. So it was just as easy as that!

And the winner is...

I've drawn the winner of the Cottage Charm Giveaway and the winning reply drawn from my basket is:

Anonymous said...

i would love to enter your drawing! Thanks-Becky
dbbynum@pld.com
Wed May 02, 08:03:00 PM CDT

I'm emailing you for your address, Becky! Congratulations!!

Thanks to ALL who entered! I felt like a...well, a *princess* with all those responses filling my inbox! (Way more that I managed to respond to, I'm embarrassed to say!)

Thank you for all the banner love! I was a little surprised at how nice all my clutter could look when arranged just so. Seriously, that was just about everything that was scattered across my nightstand. Yes, I keep my tiara on my nightstand. Don't you?

A banner day!

So, how do you like the new (my first!) banner up there? It keeps drawing my eye like an "I Spy". How many hearts can you find? Can you spot the four thimbles and two crowns?

Just kidding. You can stop counting hearts. I don't even know the answer so I can't even tell you if you're right. And there are a lot of teensy heart buttons. So you'll never get it right.

Stop counting. Now.

Don't make me count to three.

Am I blessed, or what?!

Not one, but two "vases" of clover and dandelions. There really is nothing sweeter than a 6 year old little boy with a handful of weed-flowers. Makes me glad we don't have the best kept lawn on the block.

By the way, the tea cozy in the picture is the failed attempt at using just one layer of batting rather than two. If it weren't for the teapot inside, it would just flop over.



Today is very much a "works in progress" day. I have no finished projects to show. Well, I have one finished project but it's for a swap so I can't show it yet.

I'm in the middle of quilting one of those little quilt tops (the one at the top, left corner). No embroidery on this one. I think I'm keeping this one for me.

And I pieced a quilt top yesterday as my friend, Tara, gave birth to her fourth child Wednesday night. I don't think she's made an official announcement yet so no in-progress picture of it because is a total giveaway regarding the sex of the baby. So I'll share once she's shared. There will be more to see now that I have the baby's name and can get going with the embroidery!

Congratulations, Tara and family!!

A new series of children's books

I want to tell you all about a new series of children's books that we've had the pleasure of previewing. The series is called Fairy Chronicles. You can take a peek at their site here

The first book in the series is Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins and it is such a sweet book! I read it to Mason, a few chapters a night, at bedtime. Isabelle came and listened in, too.

I was really impressed with the gentleness of the story. It seems so many stories (whether in print or in movies/tv shows) are good vs. evil. And most really trump up the evil for dramatic effect. Amazingly, this book managed an interesting plot with all sorts of fairy-realm characters without resorting to darkness.

Also nice is that the fairy-realm characters are human children who can magically transform. They use their fairy abilities to affect positive change on the world around them. Fairies are "problem fixers". I can see some wonderful, creative imaginative play being inspired here!



We've just started reading the second book, Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams and we're enjoying it just as much, so far.

I also wanted to add, from a homeschooling-mom perspective, that this series fills a bit of a void. You know how once your child graduates from the 80-90page beginner chapter books, there isn't much a a next step? They're expected to move straight into 200-300page books with few, if any, pictures and much smaller type. These books have around 120-130pages, larger type, and they're full of colorful pictures. A perfect "next step".

Anyway, just wanted to share our experience with you! Have a lovely Wednesday!!

Quiltiness

I finished this little quilt (18" square) last night. I got a little carried away and embroidered some vines and flowers in all the peachy triangles. It's listed for sale in my Etsy shop.

Only four more to finish! (What was I thinking making five little quilt tops at once!?!)




I just love looking at the backs of quilts. As I'm quilting I stop to peek at the back every so often so I can watch it grow.



I also made this teeny tea cozy over the weekend. It has a little pot just like the one on top of the teacup underneath it.

Oh, I wanted to mention... I created a Flickr group for showing what you've sewn using any of those patterns or tutorials over <----there (in my sidebar). Please, someone, add a picture so I don't feel like a pathetic dufus that no one will play with.

Also, if you haven't put your name in the hat yet there is still time (4 more days!) to sign up for the Cottage Charm Giveaway. Eighty-seven names in the hat so far! Exciting!

I plan to redo the skirt tutorial very soon. I did that with my old camera and it's not very clear. I can do better. :-)

I spent a little too much time doing quilty things the past few days. Housework beckons...