Monday, February 28, 2011

February Stats

After a very productive January, February's numbers look pretty weak:
• Digitized ODOT logo embroidered sample on Carharrt vest and made hat sized sample


• Frog lovie for Colt


• Frog stuffie for Colt


• Pink & Brown print Pendrell View B


and 12 kitchen towels
I hope with Me-Made-March beginning tomorrow I will get some more things finished in March, just so I have something "new" to wear. I have plenty of clothes, I just am in the mood for something new. March is looking like it's going to be pretty busy already, but hopefully this business will usher out the crazy winter weather we have been having and bring on some sunshine! Can I get an amen???

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Another Boring Pictureless Post

Thought I'd announce that up front so if anyone was expeciting pictures...well, you're outta luck! I finished my Pendrell from the sewalong finally. Silly me...I had made the pattern up several times so I didn't pay alot of attention when cutting it out or looked at the directions when I started to sew. My plan was to do version B, but I cut the drapy sleeve of version A and then put the cap where the ruffle was supposed to go! What??? Didn't look like the picture (duh!), but actually was pretty cute! I knew it was wrong though, so I did the right thing and re-did it with the proper ruffle and cap sleeve. Much better!!! I'm waiting for a spring like day to wear it now. The Fabric.com drop was quite nice...a couple of prints for some new dresses and a white knit to make what??? Another Jalie cardigan! Probably will make another scarf tie top out of it too since I bought 4 yards. When I get on a roll with a pattern I go with it. I have found Jalie's great for those basic staple items in my wardrobe. I have another digitizing/embroidery job that my friend dropped off a jacket to put said design to be digitized on. (Nothing like a little encouragement) I have not felt much like doing the business since our chat with the tax accountant. Evidently withholding has been reduced, but tax to pay has not, so that just makes our liability greater. I have made some changes to help offset that, but looks like it's time to end Sewfast as a business. Boo!!! I have been shopping like a mad fiend for our little Colt. I know I should be sewing him more things, but truly, when I can get darling little Tuffskin jeans for considerably less than the fabric alone...plus it is so much fun to buy him stuff. Guess that habit needs to slow down a bit until after the taxes are paid...double BOO!!! Today I am not feeling all that great...super tired, a little dizzy and a little nauseated. I'll get Tom to check my BP when I get home...I may be low again. Perhaps a bowl of salty popcorn and a movie are in order! I had to laugh when my cardiologist said "I don't normally say this to my patients, but you don't need to watch your sodium intake" Good thing...I love salt!!! More snow in the forecast tonight...when will Spring arrive?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Snow Day!

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been super busy. We got snow overnight, which is kind of fun considering it's my day off and I didn't have to go to work! I ventured out to the post office and was rewarded with a few fun packages...fabric for me and Leap Frog toys for Colt. The first load of fabric is in the wash and I think I will put on a batch of soup for dinner. Sewing, crochet, movie watching and maybe a walk in the snow are in order for the day.  Back to work tomorrow!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Things I love lately...

In no particular order...NetFlix...Lady Grey Tea available in the states...Leap Frog Toys...Sony Network Media Players...$5.00 Kenmore Machines off Craigslist that sew like the wind...Blood Orange Italian Sodas..gorgeous owl jewelry...yeah, life has been pretty darn good to me lately. Tomorrow is a sew day...I may not even get out of my pajamas. (disclaimer: that ain't no big deal in Estacada...pajamas are perfectly acceptable attire downtown...slippers optional)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Return from the 60's

Just wanted to let you know that Cheech and Chong have left the building and I have returned to normal. Regularly scheduled sewing will resume tomorrow...Goodnight!

Everything's Better with Laughing Gas

I just returned home from the dentist. I needed an old filling replaced. Ed asked if I wanted laughing gas. I had it as a child at the dentist, but not as an adult. A trip to the dentist doesn't really bother me. "No, I have to make dinner for the boys..." I protested. "Ah come on," he said. "It's a free high and it takes the anxiety away".  So I conceded. Best dental procedure EVER!!! Filling replaced and now I'm feeling g-o-o-o-o-d!!! So glad I finished my paying job before going to the dentist! Maybe I'll read a book or watch a movie the rest of the afternoon, because I don't think I will be much good for sewing. Mouth is still numb so I'm sucking down a smoothy because I'm starving. Ed was talking about gardening, which led to talk about pesto, which led to talk about the best food we ever had. I had to ask for a topic change because my tummy was growling, so they told me about the x-rated squirrel show that occurred outside the window...great!!! No gardening for awhile yet. Some areas around here got snow this morning. We did not, but they are predicting snow to the valley floor by the weekend...Yee Haw!!! Glad I still have my snow tires on! Well, guess I'll go veg out for awhile and let this goofy floating feeling fade away. More later...

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Practicing for Me-Made-March

Somehow my ensemble today ended up being all clothing constructed by Moi! Black leggings, turquoise tunic and the most wonderful lace Jalie cardigan!
The shoes are new as well. I picked up some Tsubos from 6PM.com and these are the most comfortable shoes ever! I had never even hear of them until I started lusting after Sal's boots at Already Pretty. Thanks Sal for my new addiction! Speaking of new addictions, have any of you tried the new salted caramel hot chocolate at Starbucks? Hello, Lover...I had one Friday and on the way back to campus it dawned on me...I have salt...I have caramel...I have hot chocolate!!! I can make my own!!! I used just a pinch of rock salt in the bottom of the mug, about a tablespoon or two of caramel syrup with a package of hot chocolate. Add the water and gently stir (you want the salt to stay at the bottom). Pure deliciousness!!! Sorry...I got distracted. Back to my ensemble. I accesorized with a new pin I just got off ebay. I love bears and I love being a nurse, so when I saw this pin I had to have it. Luckily I got it for $1.50, so I am happy and thrifty!
It is not easy to take a picture of your own chest...this was like take 6. What can I say??? Hope you all will consider Me-Made-March. It's a great way to show your talents!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Okay...I'm in

'I, Mary from http://www.sewfastembroidery.blogspot.com/, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March '11. I endeavour to wear at least one garment sewn by me each day for the duration of March 2011'


So I've made the commitment...better get sewing some new stuff to make March interesting!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Happy Feet!

The Sportsmen's show was great fun yesterday, as it always is. I got a new pair of pretty Keen's for the the summer. Tom got a new binocular pack from his new BFF.  One of the guys that invented this pack is a firefighter and lives in Bend, so we had to buy one! Every time we'd pass by their booth it was like old home week! We watched a dutch oven cooking demonstration followed by a dutch oven tasting experience...mmm!!! The recipes were so easy, now if we can perfect the cooking technique we'll be eating good in the neighborhood! We bought one of the cookbooks and probably will pick up the rest later on  (next year). I picked up a generic furminator for Jo and Kodi at the Petco booth. They were selling them for $5.00, so I had to try them. I used it on Jo last night and it worked like a charm cleaning out his undercoat. The real challenge will be Kodi, but I got the extra large and the picture on the package is a horse, so it should work on a bear! The fish pond was fun, as always. There was a darling little girl on the bus ride over to the expo that kept sqealing with excitement. I had to check to make sure it wasn't me making all that noise! I'm sure Tom would have told me to hold it down if it was! Anyway, it was a fun way to spend the day and I look forward to next year!
Tom is on duty today, so I have the whole day off to myself. Think I'll work on cleaning out the closet, do a little baking, work on an easy sewing job I picked up the other day and then ??? Let's see where the day heads...to be continued...

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Date Day!

Waiting for my Sweet Baboo to get up so we can start our day! I don't know why I get so excited to go to the Sportsmen's show...I just do! I like checking out all the vendor booths, love dreaming about the fishing adventure trips in Alaska I want to take (Clam Gulch, how I want to dig your giant razor clams!) and most of all I adore standing around watching the little ones at the trout pond! I hope one day Colt will be close enough that Gram and Pop can take him to catch a couple fish there! It's not all just hunting and fishing. We ended up with our investment firm through talking to one of the guys manning a booth. He ultimately left the company shortly after we joined and tried to pull us away to his new firm, but our original company assigned us an awesome guy (Hi Dan!) who has really been great in helping us with our financial goals.  We bought a cool chainsaw bear planter one year (which was a bear to get back to the car on the bus to the offsite parking!) and our big campstove (also a big item to transport!) We have taken in some great seminars, found awesome buys and met wonderful hunting dogs! Maybe we will find some adorable baby camo gear for Colt today! Ooh, I'm getting excited thinking about it all.
To distract myself I have been cleaning out my mailbox. Fabric.com has restocked their $1.95 clearance section for all of you looking to stock up.  A lot of lightweight shirting fabrics which would be great for summer sewing, but you know, I have a lot of great fabric already, so I quickly deleted the email (after putting some stuff in my shopping basket and having a heart to heart with myself). I can buy fabric whenever I want, but truly, just buying it because it is cheap is not sensible.  Not unlike my jewelry obsession on Ebay.  I get bored sometimes and go shopping for jewelry. Mind you, I set limits and it is more about finding something quirky and totally me for a bargain. Last night I found the most adorable vintage nursing related brass tone pin. It had cute bears on it (big bear collector here) with a hanging sign that says "Nurses Make it all Better". How could I not buy it? There was a bid of 99 cents on it already with a half hour to go. I waited...and waited...and waited til 20 seconds remained.....

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Nothing New to Show

Today was a double shift day, so no new projects to share. I will share my thoughts though.  This morning as I was heading out to relieving, Holly said "Heading out to watch dogs poop?" I never quite imagined that as one of my future duties while in nursing school, but surprise, surprise! That's one of the things I do. Actually I do not go outside with the purpose of "watching the dogs poop", even though they are out there doing it. Rather it is a good time to check in with people to see how their night was and assess if they have any health needs that need addressing before we head out for our day. Nursing has been such a rewarding career! I never realized when setting my sights to become an RN that it would take me in so many cool directions.  I always thought I wanted to be an L&D nurse, but a clinical instructor had different ideas for me. "Oh no labor & delivery for you" she said "you're going into cardiac care!" And so I did. I really enjoyed working in the hospital and also worked part-time in the clinic across the street, doing treadmill stress tests and endoscopies, among other things.  I filled in at the pediatrics clinic and also worked in allergy (because the other nurses thought the allergy doc was hard to work with...I got along with him just fine!) I did some cross training in the radiology center, but that was really slow and not really my cup of tea.  Then I went to prison.  As an employee...not an inmate!!! The first facility was a bootcamp program and I got to do PT (physical training) every day! It was a blast most of the time and I learned so much about assessment working in that venue. I became much more confident as a nurse and a person. Funny, one of my coworkers thought I was "too nice to work with prisoners". HA! Showed him! Now I have probably the funnest nursing jobs on the planet, working with visually impaired individuals learning to work with their new dog guide. And yes, I see alot of dog poop! I also see alot of growth and independence and it is beautiful. So glad I get to play a small part in that.  Regularly scheduled sewing should resume on Thursday. Tomorrow is our annual date to go to the Sportsmen's Show at the Expo center. Can't wait!!!

Monday, February 7, 2011

More Grandma Sewing

I was planning to sew for me today, but what the heck? I sewed some more things for Colt today. It's a Grandma thing!!! I made a taggie blanket...
And a case for the shopping cart cover/harness I got him. I thought it would be much handier to have a nice case to keep it in along with their shopping bags. I went searching through my stash and found a package of IKEA fabric I forgot I had. I think someone gave it to me, but wherever it came from, it was perfect for the project at hand. I measured and folded the fabric into a sack shape, rounded the flap edge, serged around from side to side, finished the edge with some bias tape and then stitched on some velcro for a closure...easy, peasy! 
I realized while digging through the stash that I really don't need to fabric shop to get that thrill. There are a lot of fabrics in there that I forgot about that give me the same thrill all over as when I first obtained them. Maybe that's one of the perks of getting old! Think I'll go upstairs and "fabric shop" some more!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Froggy goes a Courting...

Sara asked for a lovie blanket for Colt and this is one of the things I came up with (I apologize for the wrinkles...it was stowed in my bag to finish on my lunch break!) I started with a frog applique design I had in my library.
On the other side I personalized the blanket so there would be no doubt who's blankie this belongs to.

I got out my Espire book and learned a new technique. I have done some free motion quilting before, but my machine has this cool little clear round foot for doing echo quilting around a shape. I did 1/2 inch channels around the froggy, and as I worked my way out, the quilting took on the shape of a lily pad! That was pretty fortuitous, so I trimmed it to that shape and finished the edge with a strip of the same fleece I did the applique in.  I loved the frog applique so much, I took the larger size applique and stitched it on to some green dimple minky. I sewed a back on it with the same minky and made Colt a little stuffy frog to play with.
 It was a fun project and I hope our little man enjoys his new lovie! I also completed my bid design samples for the Oregon Department of Transportation...that will be a good job if I get it!
Tomorrow is a day off from work and I think I will be able to sew for me a bit! We'll see...I'm getting kind of antsy to start planning the garden and the greenhouse is in sore need of a good cleaning before I start planting. Hurry up Spring!!!

Project Dress a Girl

For the past couple of years, I have made dresses for Project Dress a Girl Around the World, in part thanks to the campaign launched by Mari...