what a saturday

you would think that all saurdays would be lovely wouldn't you? but not all saturdays are created equal. some have you running from the moment your feet hit the floor. other saturdays have you or some other family member with a case of the grumpy bumps or some other ill attitude. then there are saturdays where you find nothing comes together and you wish that you never left the warm confines of your soft bed. but then, then there are saturdays like today.

I woke up remembering that my dh wanted to check to see if a book was still available at a garage sale that we had visited yesterday. i got up, took a shower,

 put on my shirt, that i had finally finished, and my handy, dandy, trusty levi's and went downstairs. i had to remind dh about the book, but once he remembered, he was up and at 'em and we were out the door. we made it back to the sale we had been to the previous day. unfortunately, for us, the book we were wondering about had already been purchased. but we did find a few treasures to bring home. feeling daring and curious we drove by the sign corner. do you all have one of these in your small town? an unofficial street corner that everyone and anyone having a garage sale posts their signs. luckily for us, we do. as i was saying, we drove by the sign corner and saw a couple of new garage sales for the day. off we went. we found one sale outside a church, always a good sign. it wasn't the whole church having the sale just some of the ladies. i was able to find an air bake cookie sheet,

 this fun sign, and an old picture. after we left that sale we noticed signs pointing the way to another sale that would take us quite off the beaten path. now i'm not sure about you and how you feel about garage sales out in the booneys but around here i have discovered that more times than not they lead to disappointment. either the items for sale are;

a. so highly price

b. beyond repair

 or

c. unidentifiable.

but throwing caution to the wind we let the signs guide us. we came upon a road that forked with a final sign that informed us that there were actually two sales. we looked at the one closest to us and thought it looked more like heavy tools. because we were dealing with limited funds, translate to $6.00, and no place to put large heavy tools, we decided to try the other path. it took us to a smallish sale. at first i thought that my hypothesis would be proven true. i did find some shirts for dh , but they were a bit high.

i picked this one up anyways since it is silk and was in beautiful shape. we perused around a bit and then dh noticed a cuisinart ice cream/frozen yogurt maker in a cheerful red color. it look brand new and i didn't think the $20 price tag was asking too much. but as i stated earlier we didn't have that. but all of a sudden i and spotted a vintage stand mixer sitting right next to the cuisinart. woo hoo! i have been wanting a stand mixer. of course i would love a kitchenaide robin's egg blue stand mixer, but the price is too far out of reach for our frugal budget.  me being the vintagey gal that i am thought a vintage stand mixer would fit the bill instead and fit in our small kitchen. this mixer was a mere $5, with the original glass bowl, bread hook and the mixey things ( yeah i know try and keep up with all my technical terminology). unfortunately since we only had $6 and dh's shirt was priced at $3, i wasn't quite sure how i was going to pull this off. of course asking the lady if she would bargain was an option, and one i always practice. but then my dh came to the rescue by remembering he had a $1 in his pocket. (between you and me i think he was holding out on me, but when he saw how i was beginning to suffer at the thought of leaving the mixer behind he decided he would kick in and put me out of my misery.) we approached the lady and we offered our collective grand $7 and she took it. i was thrilled!

so now this sweet machine sits in our kitchen. it assisted me in making the chocolate chip cookies ( i use this recipe) you see in the pic and worked like a dream.

i hope your saturday was one of the good ones. i know mine was.

Cheers!

Ebay selling

being the thrifty vintage kind of gal i am, i buy from ebay quite often. it's actually my go to spot when i think about buying something. years ago i did sell something on ebay and ending up dealing with a not so nice buyer. it sort of put me off of the idea of selling anything. i did have an etsy shop for awhile and it was actually a lovely positive experience. but at the time the boys were smaller and needed more of my attention.  i couldn't devote as much time to driving the etsy business as i would have liked. so it just sits there all forlorn.

lately my dear husband, dh, has decided to work on some vintage singer sewing machines. he would like to fix them up and then sell them. he has been concentrating on 99k's and Spartans. but to start on such a venture takes some capitol. this then lead me to poking around to see what lovely treasures i had that i didn't mind parting with or things i thought would actually sell. i found some of my shoes that have sat in the closet for far too long, not getting any wear. and i took the leap and listed them on ebay. right now i simply have two pairs listed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Minnetonka-Boots-black-lace-up-boho-gypsy-renaissance-sca-reenactment-size-11-/120935488614?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c28511c66#ht_500wt_1416

the first pair i listed were my minnetonka boots. i love them but they are just way too big for me, size 11. i think  i wore them a whole two times. i bought them to go to a renaissance fair. the fair was great, the outfit was terrific, but the boots were just too big. so they just sat being unused. i have felt bad about his for quite a few years now and decided that hopefully someone could get some use out of them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Paul-Green-ankle-strap-vintage-boho-gothic-steampunk-3-heel-size-11-EUC-/120935567537?pt=US_Women_s_Shoes&hash=item1c285250b1

these sexy beasts are the other pair i listed. they are such a cute shoe. but there again just waaaaayyyyyy toooo big for me. they are made by paul green. on the shoe they are labeled as an 8.5 but they are actually a size 11. don't ask me what happen with me ending up with two pairs of shoes size 11, when i only wear a size 9.5 to 10 at the biggest. these shoes are so fun and flirty but i never wore them because of the size issue.  there again i;m hoping someone will want them so i can get them out of my closet and maybe even add a bit of coin to our purse.

if you get the chance click on the links and give them a perusal and hey maybe even bid on them. although if you just can't wait to purchase the boots i did a buy it now option on the auction. so feel free to give them a new home.

Cheers!

A sticky tip for sewing

i had decided some time ago that i would like to have a striped bateau neck t-shirt.  i shopped around for awhile and then decided i would be better off sewing one. minor problem, i had not machine sewn any knit fabric before. but i decided that wasn't going to stop me. i found a pattern, new look 6838, that i thought would work and some fabric. i cut out the pattern, and then it just sat there waiting for me to work on it. i even ran across this tip on pinterest about sewing on knit fabric and doing away with wavy seams.

then today i decided to try to work on the shirt. i got out the pattern, the cut fabric, my scissors, my pins, and my lovely featherweight. i am not a very experienced sewer, even though i have sewn for quite a few years. and while i adore my featherweight the needle plate does not have seam allowance marks. so i got out the handy dandy blue painter's tape to make my own seam allowance mark. 

as i started to sew the back seam the edges of the fabric were rolling like crazy. my mum had come to sit with me while i was sewing. she and i got to discussing how knit fabric was notorious for rolling. i mentioned to her the cool tip i had pinned on pinterest. then my mum being the clever and resourceful lady that she is asked why i didn't just try using the painter's tape.

 brilliant! that is exactly what i did, and it worked wonderfully. i simply tore off short pieces of the tape and laid it close to the edge of the fabric on the seam i was preparing to sew.

i also pinned the pieces together below the tape.

i then zipped it up on the sewing machine.

how it looks after it's sewn

then comes the fun part of taking the tape off. since i used a painter's tape, available at most hardware stores in the paint department, it is a low tack and is easy to remove. i simply tore off one side of the stitching.

and then the other side. as you can see the fabric started to curl up.

sometimes when you pull the tape off a wee bit of the tape gets stuck under the stitches. don't worry it's quite easy to remove. so there you have it a sticky tip for sewing knit fabric.

if you give this tip a try let me know how it works for you.

Cheers!

Whew

well it worked! our niece decided to start her own blog. i'm so proud of her. i think she's having fun with it already. she's posted some pix of the lovelies she has made and had a bit of a chat about herself. make sure to have a lovely cuppa when you go and visit her blog. where is it do i hear you asking? well right over here of course........  A Day in the Life of Katie 

Cheers!

a fairy tale....or is it?

years ago there was a beautiful little girl born into this world. she was full of spunk, creativity, giggles and love. lots of love! 

as time passed a brother joined this little girl and then a boy cousin. the three were good friends and compatriots in all things wee children did. they had adventures and fought imaginary foes. they ran around in their own imaginary world and played their own made up games. they even did the more mundane things of a child's life such as learning to ride bikes together, dying easter eggs and trick and treating 

and then as things do, things changed, unfortunately drastically and not in good way.  the three friends were forced to go on solitary adventures. the young brother went on a journey that forever changed him and his out look on life. the young cousin's adventure was a bit tamer but still had him growing up with out the comfort of his fellow compatriots. and the little girl? her adventure had her go through trials and tribulations. she traveled through dark valleys and she strolled along beautiful seashores.  all the while thinking that she had been forgotten by her childhood companions. 

*now with most fairy tales, we need a happy ending and i think this one has one. 

years passed and the little girl grew up to be a wonderful woman. still full of spunk, creativity and love. she had quite a few scars that she carried but she was strong and vibrant and still full of giggles. one day the young woman was able to be reunited with one of her young friends. the cousin. he was older and wiser and still a willing compatriot to all things young people do. 

i know a rather bland fairy tale. it is a brief and washed over version of what happened to our niece, nephew and our oldest boy. we are very lucky that we have been able to reconnect to our niece. she holds a very special place in my heart. can you tell?  

she has been working on crafting many wonderful things. 

from duck (duct) tape accessories

 to friendship bracelets 

and now she has begun on the adventure of quilling. 

i have been suggesting (translate that to lovingly nagging) her to start a blog. hopefully this little post will be the final push....i mean gentle reminder....(grin) to give it a try. when she gets her blog set up i'll let you all know about it and put the link on here.

Cheers!

well hello one and all!


hasn't it just been a long time? a year. wow! who would have thunk it?


to play a bit of catch up...and to just touch on some of the highlights of the year in crafting

in 2011 this wee beauty was able to come and join me in my crafting adventures. she is a 1935 singer 221 featherweight sewing machine. she purrs just like a kitten and can handle anything. she came with all sorts of attachments. frankly the attachments baffle me but are fascinating to play with. 


one of the projects we worked on was the Simplicity 2365 blouse pattern. we even used french seams on the pattern, a first for me. we used a lovely medium blue lawn fabric, that i found at a garage sale, of course. we even tried teaming up on creating a quilt for one of the young ones. it turned out rather wonky. i assure you it had nothing to do with my sewing partner, the 221, just me and my quilting abilities.


last year i also became fascinated with ball jointed dolls and tried my hand at painting a face on a hujoo berry style doll.

i realize in this form she appears a bit creepy. 

but i did have a lot of fun  helping her look like this

I apologize for the funky arm position. 

maybe she was trying to say "it took her this long to finally finish me." i realize the face isn't perfect. in this pic her eye shadow looks quite heavy, but in person, it isn't that strong. 

 my mum even got in the fun and knitted the lovely stripey socks. you can kind of get an idea of her towering height by the fact that she is leaning against my laptop screen, which is about 8.75" tall.

and then for Christmas i decided i wanted to try my hand at making  putz/glitter style houses. i  have never really worked with glitter. i loved the results of glitter but working with it can definitely be an adventure. trying to make sure one doesn't sneeze or that the young ones don't come up and try to explain something to you while using the standard sound effects.

 an over all lights out shot

i decided to color and glitter the bottle brush trees. as you can tell from the lovely pink tree in the left hand corner of the pic.

i even tried my hand with making a semi snow globe-ish type glitter house

complete with a wee deer.

all in all a fun and successful crafting year.

and for the crafts for this year? 

well so far I have tried my hand at making some peg/kokeshi style dolls. i completed one but then sent it to our niece and forgot to get a pic of her. duh! anyway's i'm working on another one and will get a pic of her. i am going to try my hand at making some jewelry using shrinky dinks,  inspired by this necklace and then this bracelet tutorial. i also tried my hand a some wire wrapping. (and yes i realize there is a joke in there somewhere) and followed this tutorial

as you can tell by the last three links i am still having fun with pinterest. it is my go to spot when i want to find inspiration or a yummy new recipe. it's also lovely if your friends or family are using it as an easy way to share things that you find on the net.  not that i'm trying to enable you or anything. heaven's forbid! (grin)

anyway it's been a hoot catching up with all and i am going to try and find a little more time to keep up with you all this year.

Cheers!

interesting or not

it's interesting what we come to realize in our years of life. in my soon to be 44 years of life i have learned and realized that love comes to you when you are not seeking it. that while money can not make you happy, it sure can make things a little easier. and there are some people, in this life, that are not really seen.

here is the background to that last realization. when i was quite small i seemed to have disappeared. my parents, family members and neighbors went on quite an extensive search for me. it even involved getting in vehicles and driving around the nearby streets. i was approximately 18 months old. i have been told that they looked, several times through our very small home, and yet they could not "find" me. after looking everywhere my mum walked into the house and there i sat on the couch drinking a bottle. quiet, safe and i suppose content. they were never able to figure out exactly where i had been or why i hadn't been seen if i was sitting there in plain sight. this same thing happened two other times in my life. once when i was a few months older, a little past the age of two. we had moved to pacific grove, to the house i wrote about in this post. there again i seemed to disappear only to be found later in plain sight. the last time that i am aware this occurred i was a young woman and was fascinated at the fact that i seemed to not be seen even though i was completely visible. i became tickled with the reaction of the person after i walked out of the same room we had both occupied by the only door in and out. they were shocked and surprised and a little startled to become aware of me following them. now i must admit i did not reply to the co-worker calling my name. i didn't think i needed to since they had looked straight into my eyes and i only assumed they had "seen" me. i assumed since they left the room they simply needed me to follow them, plus i was dead curious to see if they had not been aware of my presence. and by their reaction i realized that for what ever reason i was not present, or seen by them.

so why do i bring this up? well as of late i have felt that i am not being seen. or heard for that fact. i tell my children things and they do not hear me. I realize this is actually a very normal thing but it doesn't help. i will talk to my husband and then when i bring up the prior subject he is unaware for what i am talking about. i am for the most part ignored in the morning at my job, which really is probably for the best. and i have blogged, and posted things to facebook, and tweeted only to have the words typed float off into oblivion. i have been so very fortunate to have one loyal commenter, on this blog, the wonderful and knittingly amazing miss amybel. that helps remind me that i have not completely disappeared. this feeling of not being seen had been bothering me until i came to the realization that for what ever reason i was just not one of the people in this life that would get recognition. i found i was suddenly ok with that. that i won't mind not being seen.

and then i joined (?) pinterest. have you heard of this site? i had seen it mentioned on twitter but didn't know much about it. i then decided i wanted to have a visual display of things that i find on the web that interested me or wanted a snapshot of to have as a referral. i found the name and requested an invitation. at first i must admit i was a wee bit perplexed about what to do but found it very intuitive and easy to maneuver. i then found it to be quite fun to go searching for things to pin to my boards. i'm not sure if that is how others do it, but it's how i use it. most days i find it easier to look on the web than craft with the little ones. that way i'm not stopping a creative process to take care of the boys, but simply a visual process, which i find easier to return to. on pinterest you can search other people's board and see what they have pinned. if you like something on their boards then you can either like the item or repin it to one of your boards. from what i have seen there is no limit to how many boards you can create and no limit to how many items are on those boards. in pinning things to my boards i have rediscovered things i have liked, paper dolls, and have a new way to keep them fresh in my mind. it has made me try and bring out things that have bumped around in my noggin, like my vision of a craft room.

so how does belonging to pinterest fit in with not being seen. it doesn't really. it actually negates it. for other people have repinned things that i find interesting. for some reason this always shocks me. pleases me but surprises me. one reason is the fact that i had accepted the whole not being seen thing and the fact that i'm not sure how they find my board when there are so many others. i also find it interesting and fun when someone that has repinned something from me has something else on one of their boards that mirrors another one of my interests.

so i guess i am seen by people on a certain wavelength. which is still fine by me.

cheers!