A finished project

Okay, so it was a small project, but it's still a project completed. I intended this small doll blanket to be more scrappy to use up some small bits of yarn I had dyed. It took on a life of it's own and turned out quite nice. My littlest angel is enjoying it. The baby hiding under the blanket is becoming known as 'Frankenbaby' to the rest of the family. Hubby suggested the baby was in need of a good washing a while back. The body houses electronics and the clothes are sewn on. I thought I could just snip the threads at the back of the neck and slip the clothes off, but I was mistaken. I knew the legs were encased in the clothes and not attached to the body. I didn't know the clothes were not made and then attached to the body. The seams around the neckline and sleeves were sewn to the body as well. Taking it apart made a real mess of it. My little angel didn't seem to mind and was thrilled with her clean baby. The poor baby has since lost an arm, and my angel still loves her baby.

Her second birthday is fast approaching. Time just flies right by when they're little and growing so fast. Her birthday is in October, still a couple of months away, but I am notoriously slow . She needs a new baby. Maybe I just want her to have a new baby. Either way, she's getting a new baby for her birthday. A proper baby with clothes that can be changed and washed and sewn for her.

I spent months looking at any store I shopped at before buying the first baby. I wasn't too thrilled with that one, but it was love at first sight for my little angel. There really aren't many adorable dolls in the stores today. So, what's a Mom to do? I splurged and ordered a quality baby online. This little doll is one of the Bitty Twins. She hopped out of her box to model for this photo during nap time. I have patterns for her new wardrobe and plenty of supplies. Now I just need to finish my organizing. Then I'll have two months of naps to sew a wardrobe for her before the birthday.

My organizing is coming along slowly. I haven't put too much energy into refolding fabric, but it's still taking a fair amount of time. I have four more buckets full of fabric to go in the cabinets, plus a bit. It's actually nice being able to put the fabric in before the doors go on. This way, I can see everything all at once. As I suspected, the yarn and laces just won't fit in the cabinets. For now, they'll stay in the buckets stacked under the window. All in all, things are starting to fall into place.

Organizing

My cabinet still needs the facings and doors, but it is ready to begin using. Now I just have to decide what to put where. This is proving to be a challenge after going so long with only using plastic buckets and baskets, and tucking things here and there. The cabinet is about six feet tall and seven feet wide. I do have another shelf for my stuff in an alcove at the bottom of the stairs. Hubby also wants to build U shaped shelves to better utilize that space, but that project didn't rank high on the priority list. Until the doors are on, I can only use the bottom shelves for anything I don't mind the baby getting into. So far, that is only a pile of jeans to be recycled for a project.


The doors will likely be on before I fill up the top shelves. I'm finding it very time consuming to refold the many pieces of fabric to stack nicely. I've started with the crazy quilt fabrics on one side, the quilting cottons on the other side, and the fabrics for making clothes in the middle. I haven't come across them yet, but there are is also the fabric for making fashion doll clothes that will need a home. Yarn may go on the bottom shelves if there is extra space. If not, it will probably stay in buckets that I can stack under the window next to the cabinet.


Eventually, I need to organize the alcove better and hang a curtain to conceal the chaos. The shoe box size containers are filled with a variety of things. Some contain crazy quilting embellishments, various motifs, bits of lace, and such. Some contain fabrics for doll clothes that have been cut out and are waiting to be sewn. Some contain supplies for things that don't require much space, like tatting or dying. Others contain supplies for an individual project, like the jean bag I started way back when. There is a stack of floss boxes filled with various buttons and beads and what not. One bucket is filled with patterns for doll clothes. Another has drawers full of beads and fibers and Christmas ornaments to paint. There are a couple of shelves of scrapbooking supplies. In front of it all, is a pile of random craft supplies and mishmash to keep the baby from getting to the shelf. When it is better organized, perhaps I'll stack the buckets of yarn here instead.



Craft and sewing supplies are also stashed in several places they don't belong, for the sole purpose of being out of the baby's reach. I didn't take pictures of everything, but you get the idea. I'm really looking forward to getting organized. Maybe then I'll actually be able to focus on more stitching.

The Garden Planted

After two months of work, I was finally able to plant my garden. My wonderful husband built the raised beds and installed the fence for me. I planted about a week into June. The plants are not as big as they could be, but they're coming along nicely. There are still piles of gravel and rocks to be moved and used in other projects. Those projects just aren't as urgent as preparing the garden was. I have done a couple of minor outdoor projects, but the focus is now inside. There is still unpacking and organizing to do. I'm hoping having the cabinets to organize my stash will have a domino effect and enable more organizing elsewhere. This will be the first time my stash has a real home. It's always been just 'stashed' somewhere out of the way. Well, sometimes it wasn't so out of the way, but I'm a creative type. Chaos is sometimes unavoidable. I'm also hoping this will make using it much more efficient and therefore, pleasant and productive. I am finding more energy for creativity and stitching again. Mostly, this happens after my littlest angel goes to bed at night. It's really wonderful to curl up at night with my husband, me with my stitching and him with his drawing, and enjoy our own house that is feeling more like home all the time.

The Great Build

I have the best husband. His parents came to visit last week, to see their only grandchild and the new house. Hubby was on vacation. He and his dad spent the whole week building me a cabinet for my stash. Hubby is an artist and never did this stuff as a kid. Now that he has his own house, he's taken an interest in building stuff. He made plans for three projects and had the lumber delivered a couple weeks ago. His dad was only too happy to help him while they were here. I think they both had a great time building, sharing ideas, and doing the male bonding thing.
Hubby's mom helped, too. We must have spent a couple of hours at Lowe's getting hardware, tools, and extras. His mom picked up a few extra things she thought we could use. Turned out pretty well, the things she bought us came in handy. One of them was the long level. She had great fun using it to check on how the men were doing. She was also there to help any time they needed an extra pair of hands.
It was a great week. They were predicting thunder showers most of it, but the weather held out wonderfully. It only sprinkled a couple of times while they were building. Even then, it wasn't too much to make them stop. By the week's end, they had the framework done and the shelves cut and notched. At that point, it was getting pretty heavy. They were taking it out of the basement each morning to work on it and putting it away at night. Each night it was a bit heavier. After the frame was done, they decided it would be best to continue the cutting outside, but finish the building where the cabinet will be located. It's made to fit along part of a wall in the basement family room.
They weren't able to finish the cabinet before we took his parents to the airport Sunday. That morning, they cut all the paneling and doors. All that's left now is for my husband to cover the shelves with contact paper, sand a few rough spots, and install the paneling and doors. Actually, the trim for the doors may need to be cut still. It's slower going, now that he's back at work, but it's coming along. With any luck, it might even be finished this weekend. Oh wait, I still need to pick out handles for the doors. I didn't like anything they had at Lowe's and wanted to check another place, or maybe even pull out the polymer clay and make some. That could be fun.
I did get to help with the cabinet a couple of times, but mostly I was occupied with the baby or cooking. It was great having extra people to cook for. I think hubby and the kids enjoyed the extra variety in the meals. I may have to put more effort into menu planning for just us, too. We don't need the extra desserts and such on a regular basis, but some of the main dishes would be nice to have more often.
The baby and I had our own bit of fun while the men were building my cabinet. Hubby put together the table pieces we picked out and we painted it. It's not the neatest project to let a baby help with, but she had fun and knows that she helped make it. She dipped her brush and slopped the paint on. Then I spread it around and wiped off the excess. It's a nice pale pink. When the baby is sleeping, I may sponge on a bit of gold mixed with glaze, not to cover the pink, but just add a bit of shimmer. Then I want to paint butterflies and flowers around the edge for her, maybe a couple of fairies, too. I think she'll like that.

This and That, TIF January, New House

Thank you all for the recent comments. I haven't responded to anything in a while, but I have read them and appreciate them all.

Well, we're moved into our first house. Things are far from settled, but we're getting there. We took a weekend to paint the bedrooms. Another weekend with more painting and finishing floors. The third weekend we moved in. This weekend we're making a few trips from the apartment with odds and ends and then cleaning it. I've spent the last few days cleaning cabinets and drawers and lining shelves, trying to get organized. I finished painting the trim in my room, but still have to do the trim in the kids' rooms. It's a good thing we like the colors in the rest of the house and won't have to do those for a while. The kids are all thrilled with their own rooms. The baby not as much as the teenagers. She is likely to come into our room at night for a while. I put her to bed in her room, but she still wakes up at night and likes to cuddle. My darling husband has been busy installing curtain rods, coat hooks, new locks, baby safety latches, the washer and dryer, putting all the beds together, the internet. The internet isn't quite done yet. Now that everyone has their own room and the main computer (the one I use) is in the basement family room, they are not close enough to run cables. We have a wireless router, but had to get a new wireless card. It wouldn't work upstairs in my son's computer so we swapped it for mine. Still didn't work. Hubby played with it more and it works now, but the signal is erratic. So, for today I have kidnapped the router and modem from the teen and he is counting the minutes until I return them.

This is the current state of my January TIF color block. I still have a bit to do on it. I haven't added to the concept block since my last post, but it is on my short list. The red will go nicely in my bedroom. At this point, I think I will skip the February TIF and come back to it later. I have had a few thoughts, but I just have too much on the list to get to it right now.


This will be keeping me busy for quite a while. I looked at drapes at a few shops and didn't find a whole lot that appealed to me. I did get white lace panels for the baby's room and sheers for the teens' rooms. Joann's had a great presidents' day sale, half off all home decor fabric and a 10% off the total coupon. I went to town with that. There is a chocolate embroidered linen/rayon for the living room, taupe crinkle sheer for the living and dining rooms, and thermal lining for all the windows. The rest is all for the master bedroom. The stripe is a semi-sheer. There is an embroidered taffeta for drapes to go over the striped sheer. Same treatment for the closet. The roll on the bottom has three fabric cuts on it, same color, different textures. One is crinkly, one has diamond pin tucks, and the third is tufted. Those are for a comforter and decorative pillows. The bright red is silk and will be used for accents.

I couldn't find anything I liked for the kids' rooms. Once I get this lot made up, I'll poke around online. I've bought fabric online for quilting and doll clothes, but I like being able to feel the fabrics. So, we'll see how that goes. My son is doing his room in yellow, looks like eggnog. Finding a masculine print in that color is a challenge. My daughter's room is two shades of bright cheerful green. The house is a cape cod style so their rooms have the slanted parts between the walls and the ceiling. The green room looks a bit like a leprechaun cave. Darling daughter wants drapes in a shade between the two greens, but will accept a medium purple. Purple means many things to different people. My idea of medium purple is probably not even close to hers. Pink prints are not terribly hard to find, but I didn't find one that was right for a baby's room. The shade of pink doesn't need to match the walls. Everyone that has seen the room thinks the color reminds them of pepto bismal. The trim and chair rail are all crisp white. I envision drapes and other textiles in a variety of pinks and white in little girl prints.

TIF Update

These are the fabrics I've pulled from my crazy quilt stash for January's Take It Further Challenge. The first group is for the concept challenge. As mentioned in previous posts, my husband is the person I admire. His colors are green and brown. His current style is very Indiana Jones, complete with replica hat and leather jacket. I've added the red to honor his passionate side. I'm happy with the rich masculine feel of this palette. I will try to maintain that throughout the project.

With the second group, I've tried to match the color scheme Sharon gave us. Some fabrics match better than others. I didn't find much in the lighter color to the right. I'm hoping to find embellishments and fibers that will add more of that last color. The colors are much prettier in fabric than in blocks on the monitor. The possibilities are a comfort doll, crazy quilt block, or a small evening bag. We'll see what the fabric tells me when I start sewing.

Stash Aquisition

During my recent move, I made the mistake of sharing a few revelations with my wonderful husband. Going through the stash in preparation for packing revealed that I have more than I could possibly use in the near future. This is even more true now that I have a toddler again.

Lugging all of the stash around the old apartment while packing, onto the truck, into storage, onto another truck, into the new apartment, and then into its new home in the new apartment... all of this revealed to me that I have much too much. With the prospect of doing this all again when we buy our house next year, I decided to use up as much as I could before that. This shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I have a list a mile long of planned projects. Many of them intended for gifts, so the finished item won't have to be moved again. The biggest challenge is the time factor.

Towards the end of the move, I ran out of space and time and had to throw away some stash. Nothing that can't easily be replaced. Nothing worth crying over. Some batting and pillow forms. A box of miscellaneous craft supplies left over from previous projects and not since used. The revelation here is that a good sale is only a bargain if the acquired stash is put to good use. Otherwise, the costs of stashing it just become too much. Those costs being to some degree the obvious waste of money, but more so the loss of space, my husband's frustration, the lengthening list of projects and ideas that leads to them being set aside and forgotten about.

All of this led to my decision to use up what I have and not buy any more stash... at least until I have finished a few projects and after we buy our house. Telling my husband about this decision was not very smart. It has not even been a month yet and I have already succumbed to the lure of bargain stash.

We were doing some shopping after church last Sunday. I spotted the Michael's sale flyer. They had advertised a clearance sale on yarn, only $1 per skein. You should have seen the look of dismay on my husband's face when I suggested we stop and check it out. He reminded me of all the aforementioned things that I had shared with him. I pointed out that I had just mailed out eight packages of squishies to cq list buddies to share and lessen the stash. Doesn't that count for anything? He suggested I finish a project first like I had planned. I argued that it wouldn't hurt to just pop in and see what they had. It probably wouldn't be anything I wanted anyway. And then I did it. I pouted. It was not my finest moment. I tried to take it back. I told him not to worry about it, I could stop by on my own some other time. It was too late. My husband cannot resist the dreaded pout. I'm not proud, but here is what I found...














I was a little right. Most of what was in the clearance bin was not anything I wanted. It was mostly Lion Brand fun fur, fancy fur and boa, a few skeins of twister and a few skeins of ribbon yarn. What I did find was this Bernat bling bling. It has such a nice texture and sparkle. The pale blues on the right are baby lash yarn. One of the black and white skeins is Moda Dea swirl. It was the only one left. At $1 per skein, I just couldn't pass these up. I am so weak. But not to worry, I have a plan. :)