Blogger Hates Me!

Seriously or is this a April Fool's joke. I did everything their help section told me to do to get this picture with a hyperlink. Works in my blog but not on the side bar! GRRR! I seriously need to go to bed. My youngest has a cold, which is the first one of the year for her. So not bad she almost made it 4 months with out getting sick. Oh well I just won't be my cheerful joyous self.

Sheep Baaa

I finished this appliqué a few days ago and just couldn't get my youngest to cooperate. She was so goofy, that I couldn't take a good picture of it. I was laughing so hard that I ended up cutting her head off in all the other pictures. Plus she was sticking her tongue out too. I think she's caught too many glimpses of America's Next Top Model when I watch it on You Tube. I do not know why anyone would pay for cable, when you can wait a week and catch the latest shows on YouTube. Also if you have children you can plug in head phones and they never know what potty words are being said.
I really like the purple batik fabric but I just couldn't get a good picture of it. So this will have to do. I'm working on one of these appliques for my oldest and the tooth fairy appliqué blown up for her too.
I've gotten side tracked because my awesome neighbor gave me a huge bag of remnants from her quilting and stuff that was in the garbage where she works. There is so much I've decided to try to make the girls patchwork apron tops. So I've been sewing patches together this weekend. Along with hammering copper bookends for my husband. No I didn't finish the four minimum he needed. It's not like he can fire me if I don't do the work. The worst he could do is to withhold chocolate. Then there will be big problems!
So I figure the youngest top will be done first. She, unlike her sister doesn't care what I use. I'm having creative problems with the oldest. She doesn't want this cool purple batik that has a yellow orange color in it. Even though I showed her the pile of stuff that I was going to be using. Yep she is just as pick as I am.
I can't believe tomorrow is April. Where did March go? It's only 9 days until my birthday. Which I'm not looking forward too. It's not like the typical reasons either, like I'm getting older. It's because last year my daughter's made my birthday the WORST day ever. I can't really blame the youngest because she was just following her sister. This birthday out ranked all other terrible birthdays. Even the one's where I ended up getting all those Victorian lace shirts. Seriously it was the 80's where did my family find that crap? Or the time I mentioned I liked Exclamation perfume and that's all I got. What the hell is a teenage girl supposed to do with 8 bottles of cheap perfume. So I've learned to not mention that I like anything because it ends up biting me in the ass.

Lighting

You don't know how important lighting is until you have to buy it. I've spent the last couple of days pouring through online stores looking for the prefect lighting for my closet. The master bedroom has 3 closets, two of them are brand new and I really don't like them. Then there's the original closet which was falling apart. Plaster was falling down, the closet rod was sagging like 90 year old boobs. It was really sad looking and a waste of space.
So last winter my husband tore everything out and started putting up drywall and then everything stopped. Everything came to a halt because I just couldn't bring myself to buy lighting for this space. Closets are very important and this closet is going to be thee main closet. So I procrastinated and the lighting I thought I wanted sold out. Now that I look back, I realize that it wasn't going to work, so procrastinating worked in my favor. So this is what I picked out.
So imagine this wall sconce flanking (one on each side) a full length mirror. Then on the ceiling a matching hanging light. The space is small but it will be floor to ceiling shelves, drawers and rods done in a light colored wood. I'm thinking that the paint for the wall will be a very pale blue. Now I just have to draw the layout of how I want everything. I know the first 1-2 feet will be drawers for shoes, purses, etc. Then a vertical row of drawers for dress shirts and sweaters. Up top there will be bins? Nice bins or storage boxes to store clothes for the off seasons. On the plus side, one side will be all mine and the other my husband's. The downside is fitting it all in to be done in a timely manner. That will never happen but I feel like we are one step closer to a semi complete project.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day. The weather has been beautifully deceiving here. It looks so sunny and warm but step outside and it's still frigid cold. My girls went out to play and I found them hatless, gloveless and in rain boots. I quickly got them everything they needed so I wouldn't have popsicle children. Well I couldn't talk them out of their boots but I figured it was one battle I was going to lose.
I love this bowl of eggs and I just had to show off how vibrant the colors still are. The eggs were done 2 years ago using Martha Stewart's marbled egg recipe. Her dye baths were a bit weak, so I went in and added more food coloring. Probably a little too much with the green and purple. I'm already getting spring fever. I'm hoping mother nature will catch it too and warm it up a little more around here.

Easter Prep

This week has been flying by and here's what we were doing this past weekend. My MIL, SIL and niece were all here for egg coloring. Then of course we had to hide the eggs which took forever for them to dry, to be hidden around the house. My daughter's were very pleased with there creations and wanted pictures of all the eggs they had created. Of course they wanted pictures right before they ate all of them. It didn't happen since my youngest decided to devour 3 the next morning.
I realized that this weekend is Easter Sunday, which meant I needed make things for the Easter baskets. So I've been working till the wee hours of the morning creating things for their baskets. This is what I've made so far.
Felt barrettes, they had to be age appropriate too. Would have loved to make a caterpillar for my oldest but I just don't think she would have liked it all. Then slippers for my youngest daughter's doll Maurice. He was actually a Christmas gift but she didn't like him at all. She's changed her mind since she's been a little scared to go to bed. So now Maurice needs PJ's and I worked on bottoms today and the top will hopefully be done tomorrow. He needed slippers of course but I thought the Easter bunny is always all "knowing", so it was a perfect addition. My oldest will get slippers for her American Girl doll, Marisol. Which I will be making tomorrow night.
I don't know if it's enough, my husband bought them one candy bar each too. I would like to make some simple beaded necklaces too. I don't know if my youngest will be able to see that I made everything. She looks at my supplies all the time but I don't know if she will make the connection. My oldest will keep the spirit alive, even though she knows what's up.
I am going to need more ideas of useful things to make as the years go on. I feel you can have to much jewelry but if I make it, I don't mind taking it back and re-purposing it my own needs. I would really like to make things that would hang around for a long time but it is sometimes so difficult since we live in such a throw away society. EEkk, I meant to be in bed by 11pm.

Stained Sweater Solution!

As promised my solution to hiding stains on a sweater. All the flowers are made from recycled sweater scraps that I had felted. The centers are left over felting yarn scraps and the green yarn is leftover, leftovers from the LOYS. I like how it turned out. The time consuming part was the felting of the flowers to get the petals separated. Then figuring out how to make it look not lopsided because most of the staining was on the right side. Your right my left. I'm not left handed so most of the staining occurs on that side. I think I'm going to wear this to an art opening I'm going to tomorrow. Here's an one of the guys who's exhibiting Thomas Kegler. The picture on the website intro page was my husband's birthday gift. It looks better in person and if you love painting, he's awesome! Definitely someone you should check out and collect.

Left Over Yarn Socks

Finally, a picture of the fugly LOYS. They aren't that pretty and have been worn a lot around here lately so excuse the fuzzies. It's supposed to be in the 40's but my floors are still super cold. I knit these from the toes up so I could try them on me and my daughter. I thought I had used everything and I'm still finding more yarn. I don't know if it's enough to do another pair for my youngest.
I am so ready for gardening to start, so spring hurry up please! Last year I could have started peas and radishes in March but didn't. I may do it this year if we get rid of this snow. It did snow a week or 2 after I planted the seeds last year but they didn't seem to mind.
I wanted my husband to build cold frames for multiple reasons this year. First is so I can start gardening early and the biggest reason is to protect the seedlings from our chickens. They love to scratch and took out my cucumbers last year. We are down to 4 chickens this winter. One mysteriously disappeared in the last month. Never found a body or tracks. I'm expecting her to show up when it thaws. She was low on the totem pole, so I think she took off for more quiet pastures. Hens are very mean and we had to get more hens because our little bantam would peck our rooster's comb. Everyday, so he would be a bloody mess. I felt so bad for him but our farmer friend said he can't feel it. I don't know if I believe that but he's been wound free this year.
I plan on planting celery, cauliflower, radishes, peas, lettuce, broccoli, cucumbers, purple pole beans, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, red peppers, garlic (already planted), lettuce, cilantro, dill, beets, swiss chard and I think that's it. I planted all of this last year and didn't get celery, cauliflower, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, or cilantro. I think I planted stuff way to close together.
I over turned another bed this summer and hope that I can keep it chicken free. It's about 6 feet by 15-20 feet. I never measured it but I should. You would have thought I would have because I dug this bed down 18 inches and over turned it. It took forever and it was back breaking labor. Also it would help so I can make a plan for what's going where. I'll just put it on my to do list.
Have I mentioned that I can't keep anything stain free? I have this nice turtle neck sweater from J Crew. Before J Crew, they went all cashmere only and plain boring cable designed sweaters. Well this fall I stained it, tried everything to get the stain it out. Very tempted to try bleach but came up with an alternative. I'm adding felted flowers to cover up the stain. Felted recycled sweater flowers to be exact. My husband said I had to add at least 5 flowers. I only needed two but nature does things in odd numbers, so 5 is the magic number? Two are on and I'm working on 4, plus it has to have a stem and leaves. Hoping to have this done before winter is over. Pictures soon???

Snowy Weekend

We didn't receive as much snow as Ohio but I think we ended up with 18 inches. Yesterday was, let's move the snow out of the driveway so we can bring in wood.  Here's the view of our porch and the snow is just hanging there.  This summer we had a metal roof put on, which has made this winter so much fun.  I will run from window to window to watch the snow slide off the roofs, plus it sounds like thunder.  This didn't quite make it off the roof but I'm sure it did today, it was quite sunny and warm.  

My SIL called and Saturday and invited us for wine.  They moved in to their house in December and this time they had furniture and appliances.  It looked really nice and is much warmer than our house.  We ended up talking about sheep and dogs.  She wants a sheep farm and I would love the wool.  So she said she would get some sheep just for wool.  I'm so excited because I just love to knit.  Plus sheep are just so cute!  Of course I've never mucked a barn or anything like that.  My love for sheep may end after she's had them for a while.

They also have a curly coated retriever and a rhodesian ridgeback and participate in dog shows. The Curly has won second in a national and local show, she's a very sweet dog.  The rhodesian is still a puppy and full of childish antics.  We were walking the property before they had moved in and he thought it would be funny to bump and run into me.  I almost fell over, so I'm a little leary of turning my back to him.  But to pay him back, I got to make him do tricks for treats.  It was really fun and neat to see how food really makes dogs behave very well.  He played well with my 3 year old even when she wouldn't share the dog toy with him.  I thought he would have nipped her but he never even came close.  

I've also finished knitting my brother's scarf and need to add the fleece on the back.  I really really want to make him a hat and mittens but I don't know if he will wear them.  He should because he still has a military hair cut from when he served.  Maybe it's not that short but it's still really short.  Plus he was shoveling with no gloves on, when we went up to their house.  It was seriously snowing heavy then too with the wind whipping around.  They live on top of the hill, while we are in the valley, so they have get more wind than we do.  

I finished my daughter's LOYS aka Left Over Yarn Socks and I will have a picture in the future.  I need a 3rd person to take a picture of hers and mine together. Speaking of socks, why do they have books with cute sock patterns and then discontinue the yarn?  I have Vogue Knitting Socks Two and they have a cute pair with sheep on them.  My SIL wants them and the yarn of course is discontinued.  I would like to go to the local yarn shop but after my experience with buying the wrong substitute  yarn and going on the only day the owner wasn't there.  I may go to another shop 2 towns over.  I can give it a try but if they try to talk me into buying more than 4 skeins for the socks, I'm in trouble.

Tooth Fairy Pillow... Not

So last night I realized that I needed a container to put my youngest's tooth in. Since it was going to be pulled out today and I didn't want to play "Where's the freaking tooth" while she slept. The tooth fairy only searches for so long and then she gives up. I learned the hard way with my oldest after we lost her tooth pillow.
I know, I was in denial that this baby tooth was going to be removed. I know the dentist told me it had to be and the 2nd opinion agreed but it doesn't make it any easier. It all started last year at the end of June, when my MIL came to babysit for us while my husband and I worked a local show. She brought the kids to the booth on Sunday afternoon and the girls stayed with us till the end of the show. After hour I noticed dried blood on my youngest chin. So we went to the bathroom to investigate. I'm searching for the source of the blood and I notice her top front tooth is MISSING? I pull her lip up and the tooth is peering at me out her gum. It had gotten jammed back into her gum. It was bruised and bloody, did I mention gross too.
We were in and out of dentists offices for 4 months. The tooth persevered and came down to rest in it's normal resting spot. No damage, just look for bubbles on the gum. No problem until this January and when went for her first dental cleaning. There was a bubble. Why now, I have no clue. The tooth had to go and she's only 3. I feel sort of to blame because if I had been around, it probably wouldn't have happened. Did I mention she never complained about it hurting.
So now on to the good stuff that matters. I needed a pillow for the tooth but as this evolved... I realized that after all the time I put into it. There was no way that it was going to be a pillow. A pillow has limited use and well after staying up till 11pm last night, then deciding to get some Natural Calm to relax me. Of course the power had to go out even thought it had just been 50 and it was still nice outside. Stumbling around in the dark and spilling half my hot drink after tripping on the last top step. There was no way this fairy whatever was going to just be a pillow. So it's a fairy pouch and I'm going to include a link later on the side so you can download the pattern for the appliqué. I figured after all this heartache and weird things going on, I needed to share some awesomeness.
Here's the pictures of my daughter with it. Notice the missing tooth. (sniffle) Here's a close up and there is also a tiny pocket inside for the tooth. Which opens sideways to keep the tooth from falling out. I would have done more but I finished after the tooth came out. It is really hard to make something while being heckled by a 3 year old. Pestering me to finish because she wants her fairy pouch. The beauty of this is when she has lost all her teeth, I can add a zipper and have it be a pouch for money or whatever she's collecting.

Pottery And Projects

I just had to show off what we picked up from the show. Plus show off what we picked up 4 or 5 years ago. It's from Ephraim Faience Pottery and I just love the koi fish.
So the new pot is on the left and I love the color. The shape is perfect and look how the tail flips up over the lip on top. I still love the other pot too. Not as flashy and a different interpretation on the tail but I like how the tail creates an empty space on the lip of the pot. We both love koi fish and these are retired if you are interested in purchasing them. I know the green pot is up on ebay for sale.
We also have a koi plate and a big planter which I think came from the Bombay company. I think my love for this fish came from working for my professor. Who had 2 koi ponds, one in his house and one outside. They are just the neatest fish and it is so cool to watch them eat.
I'm working on multiple projects which is sometimes hard to juggle. Left over yarn socks for my youngest, my brother's scarf and ornaments.
Talking about projects, if you love socks Lotus Knits is doing a sock club. It hasn't started yet but keep checking her blog for details. I am definitely interested in this.
On my trip down I finished the 2nd pair socks from my left over sweater yarn. They are waiting to be washed and they really not worth taking a picture of. They are that ugly. I knitted them smaller because I've noticed that the first pair fit perfect at first. Now that I wear them a lot they are stretching out. They don't seem to be bouncing back even after washing them. They are knit from Mission Falls 1824 wool and I've noticed that the sweaters I knit for my daughter's seem to really stretch too much. So it's probably the yarn not me.