Gettin it done!

My very handy husband finished up our wall of storage.

It was a big job that required much math and Ken got to activate his new compressor and nail gun. He was a bit like a kid in a candy store. So caught up was he with his new toys that he forgot to remember that Laila was asleep and to do the quiet jobs.
Needs a little paint and such.

Inspired by Amanda at crazy mom quilts, we are having a finish it up week at our house. I started with small projects.

A while ago Clarabel and I bought some purple Princess fabric. She spotted it at the quilting store and talked about it forever, until I agreed we could have some. I sewed up a little summer nightgown. (which I haven't shown you b/c I can't figure out the ruffle, though if I showed it maybe someone could help me....) There was lots of fabric leftover so I thought some Princess napkins would be a good idea. Such a crafty mom am I that I was able to get Sleeping Beauty and Snow White on one side and Belle and Cinderella on the other. Jasmine and Ariel must have their own fabric. We made 5 and one will be a gift, 2 have already succumbed to jam and toast.

More to come...

I can make stuff

Here's my newest fabric additions.

I am taking a class at my local sewing store. We're making this. The first class was last night and I spent all day doing the homework. Sewing the bias strips onto the cording for the piping. Not all that hard but I had some feet trouble. I got it in the end.

We also had a little craft time.

From left: one eyed cow, disco chicken, one eyed goat, drunken dog and finally pretty near perfect pig. Unfortunately the fabric glue didn't quite do the job and they need some reinforcing.

Hello....Is anyone there?

And it is done. Well, not really but it is finished enough for me.


Clarabel and I spent the afternoon loading them up. Then we shoveled the filth out of the family room and gave it a good scrub.

Needs a little fine tuning. You know how it goes when you have "helpers".

Top drawer- gift wrap and ribbons. Out of the way of little hands.


Middle drawer- yarn, needles, patterns. Almost reachable by little hands.


Bottom drawer- fabric, cutting mat and a pipe cleaner princess headband.


I am so pleased that I have been able to put stuff away. I am feeling very peaceful.

I'm still here

Apologies. It seems that I dropped off the blogosphere. The mess of renovating has spread through the house and into my brain.

Still no knitting or sewing to share, though tonight is knitting guild. We are having a special guest and I will be sure to post photos tomorrow. After much indecision I've decided to leave my Kauni at home and knit on my little green sock. Kauni is at the critical neckline and not really friendly for group knitting. (or 1 year old baby girl knitting for that matter) And the little green sock could use some love. Still undecided if I am going to go ahead with the monkey pattern. It is pretty warm here today so I will likely decide that socks with holes will be ok!!

I have been to the fabric shop and intend to do a little more fabric shopping later this week. I have something fancy up my sleeve. (Yes, I am shamely taunting you to stay tuned to this space for exciting things) And I'm setting a goal to finish Laila's quilt. Her birthday, which is in 3 weeks. It'll be serious crunch time as Ken also has to finish storage project by then too.

It's the first of the month again and I haven't really come up with a goal for this month. I think it will be finish it up month. Finish some projects that I have on the go, finish the renovations. I'm going to sleep on it and get back to you.

Waiting

There is little crafting getting done around here.
Here's why-

The cupboards that house all my gear are completely dismantled. Everything that usually has a home in the cupboards is thrown around the room. See in the bottom right, my quilting stuff, 2 finished quilt tops just waiting. The sewing machine is buried under the wrapping paper and gift bags, my knitting supplies are packed up and in the depths of the crawl space. It's like running hurdles to get in and out of the room. This will hopefully be a quick project and it is going to be FABULOUS! when it's done. Stay tuned for the reveal.
Can see the chaos in this picture? I had to tidy up after I took it b/c I couldn't stand it anymore.

In the reduce, reuse and recycle category

We were coloring yesterday and I started sharpening dull crayons and picking out little bits of broken ones. So I threw them into an old muffin tin (I don't use this one for baking it's mostly for paint) and melted them. 350 for a few minutes. They are great! Especially good for Laila because they color any which way, until she puts them in her mouth and they screams when I take them away.

A little behind the 8 ball

We had a great Easter celebration. Spring even made an appearance.

We dyed a few eggs on Saturday.

I used a Dremel tool to drill holes in the eggs and it worked really well. I tried the traditional pin method but the eggs cracked. For the dye I used my cake decorating tints, which I've decided not to use for eating anymore. 1 cup of boiling water, 1 tsp vinegar and a spoonful of tint. Fabulous colors, though it looks a little like toxic waste. All the more reason to not eat it.

And there they are decorating the table. Can you see the frogs on the dish? That is a wedding present from my grandmother's boyfriend. I don't really love it but can't bring myself to get rid of it. Just after Clarabel was born I was ruthless with gifts that we didn't love only a few things survived the purge.

If you look really closely you can see that the Easter bunny stopped by before I took the picture.

Fair Dinkum

The month has gotten away from me. The whole budgeting plan, over. Did not happen. Mostly because I was away and when I got home I had no interest in the pile of receipts Ken and I had saved up. But also because I realized that spending less money this month just means I will spend more next month. Not buying diapers on sale this month means I will have to pay full price next month, ya see?

Anyhoos I have accepted that my March goal is a bust and I am moving on.

I am reading a book, Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet by Carol Off. It is a huge eye opener. Did you know that chocolate is harvested by slaves, children slaves? Beaten and starved slaves. Cadbury's, Hershey's, Nestle, all the big names, they are in on it. It's dreadful. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys chocolate. I'll be giving it to my dad!!

I am not totally naive in the ways of the world but I try not to think about nasty things like child trafficking, corporate corruption and greed. I am taking up a new cause, fair trade. I am going to do more research on where I am spending my money. Instead of paying the lowest price, we are going to start paying a fair price. It will likely be a gradual process.

Our Easter bunny didn't get the memo in time and will be bringing slave chocolate for our egg hunt. Next time...

FYI- organic fair trade chocolate available at cocoacamino. They have bars, cocoa, chips, hot drink mixes. I am sure they are lots more sources.