Thrift Thursday

Yup, you read that right, I went thrifting again!!! FINALLY! I absolutely adore thrift stores, yard sales, etc. and the last few weeks I haven't been able to go due to family issues, baby issues, etc. Well, Monday I finally got to get out again. It was so nice, just me and the youngest, and for once he only mildly acted like a 3 year old lol. First we hit the St. Vinnie's for Quarter Day. Well, Mattie made out, he spotted some Thomas PJ's for $2, which made it into the cart of course. And Mommy picked up a few things for Ebay, total spent, $3. Not bad!

Next we hit the huge thrift in KY. They have 25% off on Mondays, so while they ARE overpriced on most things, I still found some bargains. I got these two awesome vintage Pyrex dishes. They, amazingly enough, were NOT way over priced, like much of the Pyrex I see here is. The smaller refrigerator dish was $1.01 (then minus the 25%), and the larger Crazy Daisy dish was $2.02 (again, minus 25%). I think that pricing was because it was covered in paint splotches, I believe someone used it as a brush cleaning dish. After some scrubbing though it looks wonderful! My mom has had a Crazy Daisy mixing bowl for as long as I can remember, and I've coveted it for a VERY long time. One day, it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine! Until then, I hunt for other pieces in that design. This is actually the reverse of the bowl mom has, hers has a green background with white daisies, but I love this just as much. The refrigerator dish (topless as it is!) is sitting on my sewing table to hold miscellaneous whatever I put in it (maybe chocolate for the preggo woman???). I have as yet, not decided whether the Crazy Daisy dish will be for display or useful purposes.

The other big score of the day at this place was the above fabric. Now, this place is GREAT to find notions, as I have scored in the past (and Monday) vintage bias tape, seam binding, ribbons, wooden thread spools, etc. for very reasonable prices. Their fabric tends to be polyester and unattractive lol. The prices aren't fall over dead great or anything, but these pieces are both right around a yard, and ended up costing $3 a piece. I didn't mind paying that because the one on the left is just super cute and my son was really excited about it. The one on the right I thought was cute, how surprised was I when I got home, unfolded it, and found it's Michael Miller! This stuff runs usually $8-$9 a yard at the local fabric store, when they even GET Michael Miller fabrics, so this is actually the first piece I've owned. I'm not sure how I'm going to use it yet, it screams BAG! to me, but seeing as how I've never made a bag, we'll see what happens.

One of my new favorite blogs, Sommer Designs, has a Thrifty Thursday Flickr group I joined. So much cool stuff on there! I'll be adding the button to my sidebar shortly so keep an eye out for that!

Oh how I love blogland!

OK, I'm finally spending some time catching up on blogs I love today (aka..not getting crap done in my house lol), and one of them has a post about why she loves boys. Her 4 boys are quite a bit older than my 3.5 boys (yes I consider wyatt a half now even though he kicks harder than the other 3 do), but it's nice to know that with the right attitude and amount of alcohol (just kidding!) they can survive past toddlerhood.

Another favorite of mine lately is Selena of Apron Thrift Girl. Not only does she always have awesome thrift store finds, which I am so completely jealous of lol, but her craftiness is so inspiring!

I tend to lurk alot on blogs, I have over 100 that I read on a relatively daily basis, and always forget to comment. How bad is that? I need to spread the bloggy love more. New goal...comment on at least one of the blogs I read daily!!!! We all love comments, just knowing that people actually read what we write, what they think, etc. so I obviously need to get better about that one.

On the crafty front. I am halfway finished with sewing Wyatt's quilt top! I actually ended up with 2 more squares than I need, DUH! So tonight I'll be cutting out more background fabric and correcting the directions I have, my plan is to post the corrected directions here, and should I email the originator of the design and let them know of the error? I'm excited to be making this much progress on this, I'm not even bored with it yet!

My first ever quilt blocks & Flickr

Well, I jumped on the Flickr bandwagon and have started uploading pictures to it. I have not been able to figure out how to get the little linkie thing on my sidebar yet, but as soon as I do, it will be there! Anyone have any Flickr guidance for me?

Also, omgosh...I have completed my first quilt blocks EVER. I talked about the pattern a bit in my last post, and have since decided that there are multiple mistakes in the directions for pieces to cut. I ran out of the smaller squares of background fabric as well, so I've got to cut more of those. These are not all the blocks I have done yet, these are just my favorites so far. Now, I am not sure of the designers of any of my fabrics, I'm not that cool yet lol. The fabric up at the very top is a beautiful Japanese inspired Koi fabric. I wasn't sure how this one would look, but I love it. As you can tell, I had issues with making sure all the fabric faced the right way! Also, you can see there is some overlapping of the pattern squares, they aren't perfectly aligned. I haven't had any line up perfectly yet. At first I was convinced it was due to my lack of sewing skills, but after following the directions exactly as printed, I wonder if it's a combination of that plus more errors in the instructions?

My pictures SUCK btw. We decided to be all frugal (go figure) and bought the energy efficient lightbulbs and have been replacing blown ones with those as time goes on. Well, they aren't quite as bright even though they say they will be. Thus, bad lighting. I'll work on that I promise! Until then, the colors look all icky. My goal is to have the top of this quilt completely done in 2 weeks, think I'll make it? We'll see!

Recovery? And a bit of crafting

OK, it's been a week, I'm sick of this icky sick I've got going on. I'm starting to feel better, it's just more fatigue than anything at this point. Anyways, I've been working on a quilt for wyatt. Not only is this my first ever quilt, but I put myself on a deadline. I want this done and quilted, etc. before he comes home from the hospital, so I've got about 4 months. Sounds do-able right?

The pattern I'm using is called Hugs & Kisses. I think the instructions are wonky, I started out by cutting all the pieces which the instructions called for, and then started pinning all the X pieces together. Well, I was short on the largest size of rectangles, and I hadn't even started on the O blocks yet! I went over and over the instructions, making sure I didn't miss anything, and I'm pretty sure I did it all right. If there are any more experienced quilters out there who would mind following the link and letting me know if I made a mistake (by my calculations you'd need 50 of the 6.5 rectangles just for the X's, instructions call for 38 total) I would really appreciate it.

All that aside, I've gotten 6 blocks done so far and I'm loving it! I'm using shades of blue, and each block is using a different fabric with the background all being the same white on white fabric. I'll post pics later this week once I'm feeling like handling my camera!

The Crud

Yes, that's right...The Crud has visited our house. For the last 2 weeks one or another of us has had it. This week it's me and DH. Not much crafting, cooking, or anything else has been going on here.

On the frugal front, DH is making a job change. Good for some reasons, mildly icky for others, but we'll make do, as always. This job change will most likely require some belt tightening for the first few months, but hopefuly down the line will be a very good thing.

Ugh, back to bed for me!

Update on Potholder swap

Well, tomorrow is the mailing deadline for the Potholder Swap I joined. I finished the potholder earlier last week, but spent the rest of the time coming up with some goodies to tuck into the package. Glad to say my package went out this morning and should be received quite quickly as my partner Cynthia is only on the other end of the state. Of course, they are most likely involved in a blizzard at the moment, so we'll see how the USPS holds up! This was my first swap, and I really enjoyed creating my project! Even though I'm a novice sewer, I really hope she enjoys it! I can't wait to get in on my next swap! I won't reveal any pictures of the finished project until I know that the package has been received, but I'll show you this...my first attempt at making my own binding! Please ignore my nasty looking ironing board cover!!!

Baby burp cloths

Well, yesterday we welcomed my neighbor's baby into the world. She's a beautiful baby girl, but so far doesn't have a name! I asked Momma if there was anything she was still needing, because I am not one to buy the first pretty outfit I see and call it good. I'd rather fill a need than add to a pile of relatively useless items! She said she only had a few burp cloths, and all us moms know how useful those are so I came home and got started on these.



These are cloth diapers sewn up and accented with some really cute ribbon I found. They are bordered on both ends, although I'm thinking the thinner ribbons don't work so well. What do you guys think? These are something I'm thinking of making and selling at craft fairs, possibly online, etc. so any input is more than welcome!

Found some inspiration!

I've been in a crafting rut the last week or so. My main project right now is window quilts for the house, and due to some issues with the people we are buying this from, we don't know how much longer we're going to have this house. We've both been really stressed and upset about it, but all we can do is wait and see, and plan for any eventuality. Sooooo....the window quilts don't seem too important at this point. And any other creativity has been kicked in the behind!

But this weekend I got to thinking about yardsaling this summer, and decided I wanted to make something to hold my cash, and whatever else I may decide I need to carry around lol. So I'm going to make a small apron. I have the design all worked out in my mind, and have some various fabrics picked out. What do you think?




This is #1. The dark blue would be the background with the floral as the pockets.
















This is choice #2. Again, the darker fabric would be the background and the lighter fabric would be the pockets.

















I love this toile fabric! And I can't wait to use it, but I don't know how it would look as an apron?

















And those are the options. And a quick glance into my stash lol. My stash is quite small in comparison to most crafters at this point. Thursday my LQS is having a big ole sale on all their fat's so I'm going to go in and see what all goodies I can find. They always have an awesome selection of batiks, which I adore, so I'm hopefully going to come home with lots of those!

Finished Project!

A day early! I got my partner's name for the Potholder Swap I'm doing, so I went and read her blog. I was hoping for a picture of her kitchen, or a hint about colors she liked...but none were to be found. So I gathered a few clues from other areas, and got sewing! I've never made a potholder before, so it was pure experimentation from start to finish. I'm NOT going to show pictures yet, because she may peek in here and I want her to be surprised. I need to gather everything up and get it shipped out in the next few days. Overall, I'm really happy with what I made, I hope she likes it!

100 books

I saw this today on a blog I visit, and thought this might be a good idea. I LOVE to read, but with 3 (and a squid) under the age of 7, my time spent reading is generally limited to the half hour I wait to pick the kids up from school lol. This is a list someone, somewhere made up of books everyone should read at some point in their lifetime. I'm happy to say I've already made quite a dent in it, and I'll definitely be working on more! The books I've read are in bold.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien (I've started this multiple times and have never been able to get into it, although I have seen the movies lol)
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (I read this eons ago as part of a school requirement, wasn't a bad book though!)
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis (very easily one of my favorite books of all time. I read it for the first time when I was 7 and have reread it probably 50 times, most recently as part of the series with my kids)
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (what girl doesn't love this book?)
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl ( I LOVE Roald Dahl, I think I've read all of his books!)
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden (I read the book before I saw the movie, and the book is SO much better, although it is nice sometimes to see your imaginings come to life!)
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl (ack! One I haven't read..have to find.now!)
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot (love the book, love the movie...told DH that I wanted to name a little girl Miaonette, so he's thankful the squid is a boy!)
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

My sweet little boy

My (currently) youngest son's birthday is on Friday, and this mommy has been slacking so bad! If you've read much of my blog (not that there's a whole lot yet!), you'll know we just recently relocated an hour south of where we are from, and while the kids have adjusted to school, etc. My DH and I haven't really settled in and made friends, etc. yet. There always seems like so much to do with house renovations, his job and Army obligations, the pregnancy, etc. that it's hard to "get out there". My point being, we're looking at a very small party! LOL! Just us, and my parents with some good food and a cake.

Mattie is my goofy boy, as you can see from the picture his goal in life is to make everyone laugh. He is SO silly, and such a joy. He was a complete surprise, I honestly thought after my second son I was done having kids, especially once I got divorced. God thought otherwise. Mattie is a gift from my grandmother, who passed away the weekend he was conceived. His father and I split up before I even knew I was pregnant, so I wrestled with lots of emotions when that test showed positive. My grandmother frequently came to me in my dreams, she even named him. It was a very difficult time for our family, as we are quite close knit. He looks like my grandmother, and even has a few of her mannerisms. It's uncanny!

He is the only one of my children who saw fit to come at the RIGHT time, instead of weeks (or months) early. I can't believe he is going to be 3 already, time flies when you have such sweet boys to keep you occupied!