Finished for Friday: Table Runner

I love collecting mini charm packs of fabric. The assorted 2 1/2 inch squares are meant to show a complete line by a designer and they are just the right size for a quick tiny project.

Now that I live alone, my home has definitely become more girly, and my Hoosier cabinet is full of flowery china that I've collected over the years. I made this little pink table runner to continue the theme.

I still have some charm packs left. Aren't they cute? It's not really hoarding if they're tiny.  (Yes, it is, but I think this is a reasonable number).

This is the only quilting project I've been able to finish recently because I'm working on something very big and very secret. For someone very special who is about to graduate. Only three more weeks to get it done. Wish me luck!

What I Learned While Starting 15 Projects in 15 Days

finish #1: freebie from Bent Creek

1. Starting a project is the hardest part.  Aristotle said "well begun is half done" (maybe without the rhyming). Just getting all of the fibers and fabric organized for each project took weeks of effort.  But the payoff to all the careful organizing was a palate of great colors to work with and the perfect fabric all ready to go.

   

   A Christmas Carol by Cross Stitch Collection Magazine

2. It's hard to make time for myself a priority.  I tried to get an hour of stitching in first thing in the morning after my routine chores were done.  I felt the pull of a dozen different things calling me all the time.  The payoff was huge though, in my sense of purpose and accomplishment each day.  

   

   Animal Advent # 9 by Brook's Books

3. Everybody starts small.  It has been a revelation to see the other stitchers display their work on our facebook page.  Most of us only got a few dozen stitches in each start.  Yet some of these projects will go on to be enormous and epic.  I think in my mind I imagined that the people who do these types of projects have some superhuman power that lets them do thousands of stitches a day.  No.  We're actually all the same.  It's about showing up and sticking to it.

   

   "Gift of Peace" by Lavender and Lace

4. New supplies are a lot of fun.  The multiple trips to the store for floss (I need to go again today!) has actually been as much fun as getting a new box of crayons used to be when I was a kid.  Luckily, it's a cheap thrill. 

   

   "Alice and the Mad Hatter" by The Floss Box

5. I have enough cross stitch patterns in my stash to probably last me the rest of my life.  All the free patterns on Pinterest haven't helped.  I am confident that I will never need to search far for some new project to do.

   

   "Poinsettia Elegance" by Dimensions

6. If I tell myself I'll take a break "just for a minute" I'll never get back to it.  Quick lunches turned into lunch/laundry/errand/read a book.  It takes a lot of self-discipline for me to sit back down and quiet my mind again once I've interrupted it.

   

   "Night Owl" by Prairie Schooler

7. There are patterns for everybody.  See my ground hog day project above.  I have loved watching other stitchers display their work and their goals.  We all have different tastes, and I respect everyone who devotes so many many hours to this hobby.  I'm pretty sure a lot of my choices fall in the range of very silly.  I also seem to have an obsession with Christmas.

   

   Animal Advent #10

8. I love my ott-light.  I could not live without it.  Some stitchers like to work by a sunny window, but I need bright, clear light to really see what I'm doing.  I also use the magnifier attachment a lot.  Some of these projects feel like doing brain surgery.
   

   

   "Bookseller" by Mill Hill

9. I cannot stitch without some coffee in me.  I'm a morning person, but I really can't get my brain around fine details before some caffeine has hit my system.  I will miss you holiday blend.  Hello French Roast!

   

   "Once Upon a Time" by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
10. Facebook is my biggest distraction.  I can't even imagine how much I'd get done if I had the self-control to quit looking at everyone else's progress.  Also cat videos.  I'm an addict.

    

    "Give Thanks" by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

11. Every stitch matters.  I tried to get as far as I could each day.  Some days this didn't look like very much at all.  Family needs, cleaning routines, life, and sadly facebook all took time.  But every stitch that got done brings me closer to finishing everything. I'm especially reminded of this looking at the people who started enormous projects. Every minute is worthwhile.

    

    "Bless our Home" by Country Cottage Needleworks

12. My quilting has fallen by the wayside.  Now that the initial 15 days are complete, I'm going to balance my work going forward and get back to doing some quilting.  It's fun to focus so much on one hobby, but I love my other pursuits too.

    

    "Haunted Hotel" by Mill Hill

13. Making my brain switch gears every day seems like good exercise for it.  I worked on many different types of fabric, different types of charts, different levels of difficulty.  This is so different from how I usually work on a project.  I will enjoy going back to working on something intensely for days at a time, but I think it will also be fun to mix it up a bit more in the future.

    

    "Autumn Harvest Festival" by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

14. Working on this challenge has helped me deal with missing my oldest daughter who is so very very far away in Scotland right now.  My hobbies have always been my therapy, and this particular challenge was so absorbing for my brain and my time that I couldn't dwell on missing her.

    

    "Story Time Sampler" by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

So now what's the plan?  I will work on whatever strikes my fancy that day, although at the moment I think I will get some of the smaller pieces done first so I don't actually have all of these in rotation at the same time.  It's nice to have one off the list already.  I'm a little behind on stitching up the Advent Animals.  If I want to finish it up this year, I have 17 more to complete.

Halloween mantle

I've never done a Halloween-themed mantle before, but here again I was inspired by Pinterest and the "Pin it and do it" challenge for October.

My version includes a black feather tree, a transferware plate from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion (thanks to a very dear friend who sent me a set!) some needlework and pumpkins.  On the small chairs below are some wool pillow I made a few years ago.

Halloween is proving to be challenging calorically.  I've made another batch of the whole wheat pumpkin spice latte muffins I mentioned in the last post.  And tragically for my waistline, I've discovered candy corn flavored m&ms.  I wish I'd never tried them because they're just ridiculously good.

While doing some stitching a few days ago I watched "Blithe Spirit."  What a great Halloween-ish movie.  Haven't seen it in years.  It's a Noel Coward play directed by David Lean, featuring a young handsome Rex Harrison.  I just love it.

I have a stack of movies waiting next to my television for us to sit down and watch.  We barely have time to sit together these days.  I might have to finish a few more Halloween movies on my own this week while I sew.  Do you have any favorites you love to watch this time of year?

The Usual End of School Year Frenzy

The kids were thrilled when I picked them up from school today.  "Mom!  We have to turn in our history textbooks!  Turning in textbooks means the school year is almost over!"  I may have furrowed my brow pondering this one because the last day of school is June 10, which still leaves a lot of days for study.

"How were your other classes?"

"We saw 'Finding Nemo' in French.  Well, English with French subtitles.  But nobody reads the subtitles."

And on it goes.  They've seen "The Music Man" in band and countless movies in other classes.  In some cases there were substitutes (ok, if you don't know how to play an instrument you can't sub very well in band class), but more often than not movies are being shown again this year to waste time since all the standardized testing is done.


Outside of class preparations are underway for the ballet school's big recital.  Costume fittings (remember to hang that tutu upside down so it will fluff!), extra rehearsals, new clean shoes (who decided male ballet dancers should wear white shoes - were they insane?).

Wasabi Girl's gymnastics team is getting ready to march - er backflip I guess - in our local Hometown Days Parade.  Need to get white gloves to protect her hands.

Jazz band concerts (Wasabi Girl again), Boy Scout swimming tests and merit badges, Open House at school - and of course the important milestone of Drama Girl's "graduation" from 8th grade.  (I hate the misuse of that term.  Graduation means completion of study, where a diploma is granted, such as at a University.  Not middle school.)

It's like August all over again.  A frenzy of activity and writing checks.  Pictures to take, supplies to obtain, forms to sign.

I miss January.

Finished for Friday: Thanksgiving (including another disaster)

Here is the mini-quilt that I had on my design wall last Monday. I love how it turned out, although working with squares this small is a bit fiddly at times. I made it from scraps of the Christmas quilt I've been working on all year. I've got that big one at my machine right now so I can quilt it up.

Isn't this gorgeous? It's a cornucopia that Wasabi Girl and I made from breadstick dough. It was slippery to work with and definitely required 4 hands. We were so proud of how it turned out! The perfect centerpiece for Thanksgiving. Before I put it away Wednesday night, I wrapped it up very carefully in many layers of plastic wrap.

Apparently I didn't wrap it enough. The cats chewed through the plastic to eat it. This is what I found in the morning (I took the rest of the wrap off for this picture). My husband had bought garlic breadstick dough because he said that was all that was left at the store. The garlic smell must have driven the cats wild. (Notice a trend here? Everything seems to be my husband's fault.)

Drama Girl to the rescue! She took a candle I had and made a new centerpiece with some rosemary she cut from outside. It worked fine. I'm still sad about the cornucopia though. At least I have the pictures to prove we made it.

How did your Thanksgiving go? Our barbecued turkey was heavenly. I'm going to ask my husband to do that more often. Really delicious.

Join in and tell us about how you're done with your Christmas shopping (I'm so jealous) or you snagged a great Black Friday deal this morning (I'm sleeping in). Be sure to visit the other participants to cheer them on.

With a Little Help from my Twins

I decided this week that an old ficus had to be replaced. So I brought along my trusty helpers to help me get a new tree home. Turns out, the one we liked was quite large, so I used my human bungee cords to secure it. See my cane in the van there? I couldn't have done it without them.

It looks wonderful in its new spot, and the kittens are pretty sure it's a new toy for them. Getting the help I need makes my Monday.

To see other Monday smiles, visit Cheryl at Twinfatuation.

Finished for Friday: Embroidery Week

I'm still having trouble walking down the stairs to the dungeon where my sewing machine lives, so this week was all about embroidery. First the Christmas block for this month:


This is the next block for my "Hocuspocusville" quilt.


And this is a tea towel that will be a gift for someone special.

What have you finished up this week? Join in and let us know what you've checked off your list. Doesn't have to be crafty - that's just me. Feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.

Extreme Crafting Part 2: Competitive Trash Collecting

Quilters are not the only competitive bunch out there. Embroiderers and other stitchers like to band together via the internet for fun little parties. One of the more common types is a "Stitch Along" (SAL), where a pattern is posted, usually monthly, and everyone makes their own to display. I usually can't keep up with stitch alongs or with "block of the month" quilts but I've finally found something created just for people like me.

The Totally Useless SAL

The goal of this online adventure is to save all of our stitching throw-aways for the year and display them in a pretty see-through container. You see, when you stitch, there is always that little bit left in the needle after you finish the thread and clip it. This is called an ort. I am not making this up. It's from the old English orte, meaning scrap, but you probably knew that already.

So each month at the new moon, we will proudly display our collection of orts. I don't have a cute container yet, but here is my lovely collection from the top of my sewing wastebasket. I didn't want to dig too deep into the tea bags and tissues.

I know, it's a pathetic start. But if you cheer me on, I'm sure I can collect plenty of orts. If you would like to join the Totally Useless SAL, be sure to visit YoYo at Dragon My Needle.

Yet Another Insane School Project

"Mom, in history class we're doing biographical reports, and we all get to dress up as our character."

My mind raced. I've been down this road before. Madame Curie wasn't too hard. Amelia Earhart was doable. What fresh costume did I have to come up with this time?"

"That sounds like fun honey! Who do you get to be?"

"Now mom, don't panic. I know how you are. They said just to make our costumes from things we have around the house."

"Sure dear. I'm sure we'll manage something simple but effective. Who. Who are you going to be?"

"You see, I was sick the day they handed out names. I sort of got an extra name the teacher thought up."

(I'm getting pretty nervous at this point. Clearly, she is holding back on revealing her subject). "Who?"

"Katherine of Aragon."


"Sure. No problem dear. I'm sure we can come up with a costume for you from stuff we have around the house."

AAAACK. Let's get serious! How am I going to pull this one off?

I will admit, Katherine of Aragon was a pretty cool woman though. She was Henry VIII's first wife. Now, if I can just figure out how to make that signature peaked hat she wore. I'm open to suggestions. I hope I get an A for this project.

Wordful Wednesday: Stray Sock Pets

Angie over at 7 Clown Circus is hosting Wordful Wednesday, for those of us who can't post a picture without a caption.

My kids know me pretty well. When Wasabi Girl went to the bookstore with my husband to pick out a book for me for a Christmas gift, she picked out one she knew I'd like:

Stray Sock Sewing. How to make cute critters out of socks. Genius. Of course, who has the most stray socks in the house? Drama Girl. I don't think she's worn a pair of socks that matched for years now. She glommed onto the book right away and disappeared into her bedroom with it Christmas day. She came out later with this:


Within the next few days, she'd created a whole family:

I realized later that the one on the right is one of my socks. I think these two look like they could be characters in a children's book. I'm going to tell her she needs to write one now.

The Tale of a Procrastinator

I had so much to do today. Tutors to coordinate, more PTA checks to count, mountains of laundry.

So of course, the first thing I did after dropping off the kids at school was to sit down with my coffee and start reading blogs. I'm so efficient that way. It's not like I can run around with my coffee, can I? No, coffee requires sitting. Until it's exactly the right temperature. Then drink it down and get another cup and wait for it to cool to exactly the right temperature. It's an art.

So I cruised through my blog reader and then I saw it - the page that changed the course of my day. This lovely woman, a mother of 8, has started a block exchange based on a cottage block she developed. She provided the pattern a few days ago.

Go look at the Christmas quilt blocks people are making. Right now! Then scroll down and see what she's doing with Fall fabrics. Waaaaaay too cute. I had to drop everything I was doing today.

I was only going to make one.

But I thought it was really cute. Eyeballs in the windows! I crack myself up! But I also have an alarming amount of Halloween fabric in my stash. So I made one more.

Hee hee! A dancing skeleton opening the door! Glow in the dark cats and mice! Wacky colored spiders.

Of course, you know what happened after that.

It's amazing anything gets done around here. You know what's even more pathetic? If you look carefully you can see it's pinned up over that hexagon quilt on my design wall. I have a crafting addiction. It's hopeless.

The Ultimate Kiss Taste Test

In order to assist you, the blogging community, in the selection of fine candy for your Autumn and Halloween pleasure, I hereby present the official results of the great Hershey's Kiss taste test, as performed by my children and tabulated by me.

The contenders:

• Caramel kisses
• Candy corn kisses
• Pumpkin spice kisses
  
• Cherry cordial kisses
• Special dark chocolate kisses
• Hugs
• Almond kisses
• Milk chocolate kisses

The experimental conditions:
Single-blind trial, prepared by me. Subjects were given unwrapped kisses coded by letter, and instructed to silently answer three questions for each. Choice of milk or water was provided to cleanse the palate between tastings.

1. Flavor 1-5; 1 being barfy, 5 being "mom please buy lots of these"
2. What do you think the name of this flavor is?
3. Comments

The Results

A. Hershey's kisses filled with caramel

• Average grade for flavor: 5
• Name guesses: "basic kiss" "caramel chocolate" and "caramel-filled chocolate jumbo kisses"
• Comments: "I think the middle tastes different. It is sort of creamier." "It's delicious and I love the middle."
• My thoughts: I can't believe Jungle Boy thought this was a regular kiss. And he hates caramel usually, but loved these. Go figure.
  

B. Candy Corn flavor

• Average grade for flavor: 4.67
• Name guesses: "Candy corn (2)" "Halloween kiss"
• Comments: "It's delicious and I love the flavor." "I think they are good but they would be really good for Halloween."
• My thoughts: Waxy, but definite candy corn taste. Fun.
  

C. Pumpkin Spice

• Average grade for flavor: 3
• Name guesses: "Cinnamon" "Peanut caramel kiss" "Cinnamon cream"
• Comments: It's really yummy and it gives a feel of Christmas." "These are ok but I might like them some times more than others."
• My thoughts: I love these, but I can see why the kids aren't crazy about them. Perfect for Thanksgiving.
  

D. Cherry Cordial

• Average grade for flavor: 4
• Name guesses: "Pez candy" "Milk chocolate kiss" "Strawberry filling"
• Comments: "I love how it's sweet like candy but at the same time chocolatly" " I think they are a little sweet but they are good for the holidays."
• My thoughts: I was expecting cough-syrup flavor, but they're actually pretty good. Definitely very sweet though, as the kids said. Probably perfect for SAHM's who sit around all day watching soap operas.
  

E. Special Dark Chocolate

• Average grade for flavor: 4.41 (Drama Girl stopped using round numbers)
• Name guesses: "Dark Chocolate" "Hot chocolate"
• Comments: "Even though they are simple with nothing special, but I think they are great." "Delicious."
• My thoughts: Not as rich as some dark chocolates. Good though.
  

F. Hugs

• Average grade for flavor: 4
• Name guesses: "White chocolate" "White and dark chocolate swirl" "zebra stripes and cow poop in the middle"
• Comments: "Sooooo good" "It was kind of bland for me but I wouldn't mind if other people like it."
• My thoughts: Not my favorite.
  

G. Hershey kisses with Almonds

• Average grade for flavor: 4.08
• Name guesses: "Almonds (2)" "Marshmallows and nuts"
• Comments: "Yummy to the tummy" "I think it was really smart to put an almond and I like it."
• My thoughts: fun to watch Drama Girl make a face and spit it out. I guess you have to like almonds.
  

H. Milk chocolate Hershey's Kisses

• Average grade for flavor: 4
• Name guesses: "Chocolate kiss" "Dark Chocolate" "Awful" (I think Drama Girl had had enough chocolate at this point).
• Comments: " I think they were good, and these are probably the cheapest because they are so plain but good." "I love it."
• My thoughts: The original and still the best.
  

So there you are, with the final word on each type of Hershey's kiss. I know that you, the demanding candy consumer, will probably print this out for your next candy purchase expedition. Some people can rate wines, but how many people can rate Hershey's kisses?

And for the record, that little piece of paper in every kiss? It's called a niggly-wiggly. Now you know.

Shopper's Eye

When I see this

I envision this.

Vintage pattern from eBay. Stitching time courtesy of a car trip to Disneyland. Tuesday through Sunday towels - don't hold your breath. I might need another Disneyland trip.

Do you think Emeril would be pleased?

Show and Tell

Sometimes I get crafty. Here are the Rock and Roll tea towels I embroidered for my sister-in-law's wedding shower:

Here is the wedding quilt I designed and made for her. It's full of cool quotes about love and marriage:


Here's a close-up, and the back:


Today I continued my hunt for a trench coat for Drama Girl's costume for her next play "Get Smart." While I was at the thrift store, I didn't find a coat, but I did find a sugar bowl which begged to be turned into yet another pin cushion in my collection:

But I'm not the only crafty one in the family. Here is Drama Girl, working in her medium of choice - pull-out posters from pre-teen fan mags - to create personal space on the top bunk:

My groceries are cuter than yours

I made 4 of these shopping bags from a pattern on Craftster. They make me smile every time I use them.

Cat Hat

I found a great way to procrastinate on doing housework today. I crocheted a cat hat. I gave her an appropriate book to read while she wears it.