The Misadventures of Mama & Jack

Keepsakes

2008-10-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

I love crafts that involve hand prints and footprints. Jack is growing so fast, that it's nice to pull them out year to year and see the change. So when I saw this wreath at The Crafty Crow , it moved up to the top of the crafting list.

Jack thought this craft was a lot of fun, and he might have made hand prints and foot prints all day. But we happened to have a tiny baby here that day, and holy cow was she a lot of work!

I had him write BOO to add to the wreath since his writing and spelling skills are going through the roof right now.

Ours is not very wreath like, but I need to buy more mat board. Good thing I have a lot of prints left over.
The wreath reminds of one of my favorite crafts that Jack and I did, our Valentine footprint cupids . Still so sweet!

We also made pumpkin muffins that morning. Jack was asking if he could add the eggs and he kept saying, "Mom! Let me 'hatch' the eggs!"

So, I've been reminiscing a bit this weekend since we are one week from Jack leaving "number free" behind. In many ways I am so, so, so happy to leave three behind. This has been an incredibly hard year for Jack and I both. I have felt so mired under by the daily grind of just surviving this number three business that it has been really hard to see the forest for the trees.

As I was sitting here in the chair last night browsing the blog archives trying to decide when to start the Great Pumpkin Series I do every year, I realized that I often forget what a treasure my little blog here is. All those things I would have long forgotten, the first sentences, the silly faces, the adventures (and misadventures!), the rocks and sticks, walks in the mornings, first steps, first days of school...it's all here. Nicely packaged and just waiting for me to rediscover it when I need it.

I am so thankful I have taken the time to do this blogging thing. And so thankful for each of you that comes to visit us here. I really do feel as if you are on this journey with me.

******Does anyone happen to have a superman costume like this or pair of a superman pajamas (with a cape) kicking around that they would be willing to swap or trade for? I brought one home from the thrift that Jack was really excited about, only to discover the size on the cape was not the same size as the suit and it was too small. For some reason it is really hard to find a *simple* superman get up that doesn't involve fake muscles or weird "briefs". LOL We need a 4-6 or a 5T or something close to that. I will swap/trade whatever, we can work out the details via email.

In memory of

2008-10-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

I really never go to estate sales anymore. They are too crowded, too crazy, way too expensive and absolutely no place for a kid. Plus, there really *is* a sad factor at estate sales.

I can't even remember the last time I went to one. But there happened to be one on the way to Jack's preschool, so I popped in on Friday after I dropped Jack off. Well, I tried to go at 9:45 (they opened at 9) but there was no way to even get in the neighborhood because of the insane traffic, so I went back after noon.

As expected, the prices were insane. And I had VERY little cash in my pocket (only about $3), but I found a few treasures. Like tiny vintage velvet millinery flowers in a bag full of other junk.
Some fabric, dots for the birthday carnival this coming weekend...
and yards of vintage pillow ticking.

The fabric was in boxes in the basement, and I swear there were 10 boxes of double knit polyester and no good stuff.

There was one other piece in red with tiny white polka dots that I am absolutely kicking myself for leaving there the first time I went. I need to scrounge up yards and yards of fun fabrics for the carnival, and that is so not easy to do in my very girly stash. Sigh.

The fabric was priced per box though, and they were snippy about just selling it to me by the piece. (What on earth was I supposed to do with 50 lbs of double knit poly to get one piece of fabric though?!? I told them that was a silly pricing strategy for fabric.)
And I know this one is a shocker, but more ornaments. See those two rather ugly looking ones in the lower right hand corner?
I figured they were run of the mill junk and was getting ready to toss them out when I happened to read the back of this one:
it says "IN MEMORY OF A GATHERING OF SHITPOTS". LOLOLOL

Still junk, and still outta here, but it was good for a laugh, eh?

Perplexing hexing

2008-10-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I saw this gorgeous pillow pillow on Flickr and I started cutting out hexagons to make my own not even 5 minutes after I saw the picture.

Since my trusty assistant and I were just kicking around the house yesterday, we spent some time sewing.
That $8 yard sale table is a lot handier than I ever imagined. Jack can have his own "sewing" space. He told me he was using his "'magination" to sew. Totally freaking cute. And he "sewed" for something crazy like 2 hours! (He was momentarily sad when I took away the pins he had taken out of my pin cushion. I need to sit down with him and do some embroidery or something I guess. It appears he is ready!)
And I finished the supposedly quick and easy pillow. Sewing hexagons on the machine really does perplex me. I ended up hand basting most of it, then going back over it with the machine, one tiny seam at a time. Oh my.

It's wicked cute though.
More importantly, I finally used that Moda Swell charm pack I have been hoarding. (I bought mine at the fat quarter shop, but it looks she is sold out of that line already. Boo.)

Egg money, again

2008-10-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

Whew, finally. A rainy day and Jack and I have nothing to do but hang out at the house. Thank goodness.

Two final egg money treasures. That vase above is a trench art vase . I think I first saw them in one of the country home type magazines, and fell in love. I stalked a few on Ebay (pricey!) and dreamed of one of my own. We went to a neighborhood garage sale, and there it was across the street. I beelined right for it! Way cool, my own little piece of history.
The same sale had a free box sitting on the ground. I bent down when I noticed the tree topper and then pulled out 2 handfuls of figural ornaments (figural = shaped, i.e. pine cones, sailor head, etc). I am not sure that the figural ones are all that old (the condition is excellent and they feel a little too thick), but they are nice, and hey the price was right. The other ornaments and garland came from a big flea market a few weeks back, where they were mixed in with lots of newer made in China stuff.

Shiny Brites are always a treasure in this house.
This is my current work in progress. And it's a bit of a pain in the rumpus. I cannot figure out how to nicely sew hexagons together on the sewing machine. Oy.

It is pretty though, isn't it?

Hopefully it will be done tomorrow.

Speaking of sewing, I got an email about the balls I showed on Sunday asking how to get them nicely round and get the points to meet at the ends like that. It's a good question, and I am sure she is not the only person wondering.

My best sewing tips on those types of projects are:
*Do a lot of ironing. Iron between each step.
*Do VERY careful cutting. I actually cut the pieces for the balls out with the rotary cutter.
*Really mind your seam allowances. Having those exactly the same on all the pieces makes the lining up much nicer.
*Stuff to within an inch of your life. Stuff, stuff, stuff and stuff some more. They are lumpy if you don't REALLY fill them tightly.
*Ask your husband to look at it before you sew it together. LOL

No really. Sometimes a fresh eye can see another way to put something together that makes more sense. Whenever I am feeling really stuck with a sewing dilemma, Dave can usually give a fresh opinion that may not be the answer I need, but it gives me a little brain push that gets me over the hump.

Warp Speed

2008-10-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure that every year once October arrives my world starts moving at warp speed until the first of January. This year is obviously no different. We have had a whirlwind weekend which included making balls (pattern at Grand Revival Designs ) for a special birthday boy and one for my own special boy who couldn't live without one of his own;
the first of many visits to the farm and the pumpkin patch;
climbing the big straw mountain (not the least bit scary this year), and getting a new hair do;
the birthday party for the birthday boy (not Jack! we have 2 weeks to go), with big pinata fun;
decorating the front porch (never mind the somewhat ugly rental house or the kid crap everywhere, lol);
and Jack's first real bicycle.

Which he loves. And he fell off trying to turn a corner and busted his lip open and gave me a heart attack. (And yes, he needs a new helmet to fit his large noggin. But there was no keeping him off the bike while we looked for a helmet.)

Plus there has been forward progress on our own big upcoming carnival party (still much to do though), I finally thrifted a cute Halloween costume this year (not as good as the owl I made last year, but Jack is pretty non-committal on the costume front this year) and I have isolated the cat offender. (Not an easy job with three cats.) That means there is a vet visit in our future this week, and we need apples from the farm for the carnival, and we are going to have a special little baby visitor a few days this week. (Yipppeeeee! She is a sweet little thing.)

Man, are we exhausted yet?

Ah well, the cat has just thrown up, I suppose I don't have time to be exhausted yet. LOL Maybe when I am 80? :-)

(I haven't forgotten that last egg money treasure. Really. And I am positively ITCHING to make something I have just seen on Flickr. Back with good stuff soon I hope.)

Dirty boys

2008-10-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am feeling crazy stressed lately. There is always so much to do, Jack is still being pretty darn defiant, my grandfather's health is failing and he requires a lot more of my time, my idiot cats will not stop peeing outside the litter pans (what? 20 pans wasn't enough? now they have to pee on the floor too?), the economy is pretty damn scary and there is that little problem of having zero time to myself. You all get it though, right? I know I am not alone.

I sent the boys off on a little manly adventure and Dave actually took pictures! Let's go along, shall we?
Gorgeous sun on the water.
Flowers I am sure they thought mama would like.
Just hanging out.
A rather nice picture of the Jack attack.
A way cute self portrait.
And tiny frogs. Jack also reports that there were giant fish!

It looks like they had fun, doesn't it?

I stayed here to work on some sewing for the birthday carnival, which is rapidly approaching.

And to clean up more cat pee. There are going to be three cats living in the backyard soon at this rate. LOL

Ok, off to dinner with me. Back soon I hope.

P.S. I CANNOT believe how different photographs look on this new laptop. Holy mackerel I didn't know what I was missing.

Toot! Toot!

2008-09-30T15:13:00.001-07:00

Yes, two posts in one day. But I have to toot my own horn for a minute.

Look at me! (On the craft magazine blog.)

And

Look at me! (on Whip up, thanks Steph, love ya.)

/end of shameless braggity stuff. (She says swooning a bit.)

Egg money, treasure 1

2008-09-30T05:14:00.000-07:00

Last summer when Jack and I were walking in the mornings, we were picking up quite a few quarters every morning. Those quarters inspired a few milk money posts.

Last week I happened to go to the grocery store and a garage sale on the same day. After being totally horrified yet again at the price of food, I found a really nice treasure for $3. $3 happens to be what I had just paid for a dozen eggs, so, a little egg money series is born. (The quilt yesterday was also $3).
Jack and I were digging around in a totally dark building and I was trying to get him out the door when I spotted this cabinet. It was a totally hideous, mid 1970's faux antiqued green.
But this beautiful green inside the broken doors caught my eye. When I saw the $3 price tag I started digging it out of a pile. It is solid wood and heavy as all get out. Carrying it out of a dark crowded building was not easy, and Jack was so sweet about "helping" me carry it out of there.
I spent Saturday sanding and painting and putting it back together. It's the first time Jack has really helped me with a "projik" like this, and he did a lot of sanding! (I want to always remember that this cabinet was our first project like this together*...)

A coat of paint, new old knobs, fresh old contact paper on the shelf, and voila! It's so much better now.
I couldn't decide if I wanted to put some kind of paper inside the door insets or not, but after putting the same contact paper that I lined the shelf with in those holes yesterday, I love it even more.

And the total was cost was just $3, everything else was lying around the house.

I have another egg money treasure for tomorrow too!

* As I was painting it I was wondering what Jack will be like when he is older. Will our current thriftiness mean that he is driven to be the type of person who has to buy everything new? Or will he continue to love being thrifty?

Right now he loves going to garage sales, and he asks me every day if there is a garage sale today. Last week he woke up on Saturday and told me we had to get up right now and go to FIVE garage sales. Only five. No more, no less. Then after each stop he did the math to figure out how many more sales we were going to visit.

How many people really do end up like their parents though? I suspect very few.

Collecting quilts, imported or not?

2008-09-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago we went to a CrAzY garage sale. Wall to wall people, lots of noise and confusion and general insanity. I was feeling completely overwhelmed (sometimes I am just fine in those types of sales, totally on my game and on the hunt, sometimes I am like a deer in the headlights). Jack and Dave were off hunting and gathering treasures when I spotted this quilt thrown over a rack. I snatched it up, checked for the price and decided I was ready to leave.

My first instinct was that the quilt was a reproduction, imported from China. It didn't matter all that much because it was $3. I rarely find a repro I like, so I had planned to sew up the hole and use it.
I got it home, unwadded it and started to rethink the made in China thing. The fabric was too soft, the quilt too heavy, the batting was cotton not poly and the stitching was 8 stitches per inch.
I asked Dave. He said he thought not imported. I sat on it for a few days. I really could not decide whether this was old or new.

Then I asked at one of my favorite vintage textile message boards. Their votes were all for vintage, circa 1930-1960, made from a quilt kit.

Well then.

What a nice unexpected surprise.

Sometimes it is REALLY hard to tell a repro from the real deal. Even with 50 vintage quilts in this house it was hard for me with this one. Generally I am able to guess based on a combination of instinct and the printed fabrics.

So, in the absence of instinct what is a girl to do?

I see plenty of quilts at flea markets and yard sales and on Ebay that are being called vintage quilts that are actually Chinese quilts*. It pays to educate yourself a little if you are going to be investing a large sum of money. Some tips:

If you are unsure, make sure it is cheap. You don't want to pay $100+ for something that sold in Wal-Mart for $50 brand new.

If a dealer/seller has a LARGE amount of quilts, be wary. 20 or 30? Believable. 100 or more? Unlikely that they are the real deal. Do the math. Even if she hires "pickers" how likely is it that they are coming to come up with that many quilts in a month's time?

Kick the tires, so to speak. Peek inside any open seams, investigate the stitching, look at the fabric. I know this part is harder. I would never expect to see 1930s prints with polyester batting for example. But poly batting in a quilt with 1970s prints? Plausible. If the piecing or applique is well done, is the quilting equally well done? Try and look at the whole picture.

A good place to start if you want to read more is Hart Cottage and here .

* Certainly imported quilts have a place in the market. I sleep under an Arch quilt every night. (And I need to find a replacement because after 10 years it is getting ratty.) They do offer the charm of a quilt in your decor while offering some versatility since there is no worry about a 3 year old throwing up on great grandma's handiwork. And there is no guilt about "using one up" and then getting rid of it when it has fallen to pieces.

Feedsack Friday, version 2

2008-09-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure that at this point you have all seen every feedsack I have managed to scrounge up except for one. And that one is missing. (That seems to be a recurring theme this week, eh? Jack has clearly been the number one priority in a BIG way lately.)

There are the daisies I found in a thrift sometime this summer. I think. LOL
And the wild flowers I found last year on the 127 sale somewhere in KY.
But perhaps the most interesting one in the collection is the flour sack from a local grocery store that still has it's label intact.
The label is crepe paper and dated 1959.

I know a lot of folks think of feedsacks as a 1920/1930 phenomenon, but I am pretty sure that if you google you will find that they were still in use through the 1960s.

Other feedsack fun:
This feedsack book has been on my wish list for nearly a year. It's gorgeous eye candy if you love feedsack quilts. (I've flipped through it at a local quilt shop.) And if I had a million dollars this feedsack collector book would be on my book shelf also.

I tried once this summer to go see Kit Kittredge when it was in the theater so I could see the 1930's fabrics on the big screen, but I was thwarted. I am still waiting for it on DVD to further feed my vintage fabric addiction. LOL

And don't forget to go so see Barbara who is showing her gorgeous finds and has a link to other feedsack love for today.

As for me, I have a new treasure I need to go start cleaning up and a mystery quilt I need to get sorted out so I can share it with you before quilt month is over.

Happy Friday!

Which of these things doesn't belong?

2008-09-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

Jack was playing with the word whammer when I was making dinner the other night. He asked me to read the list of words he had made with the toy, so I said sure, looked over and started reading.

Ummmmmmmmmm, LOLOLOLOL. Either the word whammer spells interesting words, or there was a miscommunication somewhere!

Halloween Bottle Brush Trees Tutorial

2008-09-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

There are 2 posts today for those of you reading on a feed reader, don't miss the other post!
Since I made the pastel bottle brush trees well before I started blogging, I tried to take pictures of the process to make a better tutorial on how to do this. If you make trees, please add them to the Flickr group ! (If you need help doing that, email me.)

And if you use photos or just use the tutorial, I would appreciate links back here. :-) (If you need help making a link, let me know, I am happy to help you do that.)
Here is what my package of trees looks like. There are 21 in the bag, and I paid $12.99 for them. They will be in the section of the craft/home decor type places where the small stuff for train layouts are.
This is the first bleach soak. I used hot water and 1/4 of a 24 ounce bottle of Clorox bleach.
And the second soak, with hot water and the remainder of the 24 ounce bottle of bleach. Some trees need a lot more bleach and a lot longer to soak. Give it time. I had to let this batch soak for about 2 hours.

Some trees still required rubbing in the bleach. Do yourself a favor and use rubber gloves! (I had had to superglue some of cuticles which split after doing this since I don't own rubber gloves. Stupid of me.)
Now you have bleached trees. Rinse the bleach off them well.
Prepare the dye baths. I used pyrex bowls filled with hot water. If the dye is powdered, I poured in half the package. Add a tablespoon of salt and stir. I used Rit dyes in black, sunshine orange and golden yellow.
To get the multicolored effect you are going to have to overdye the trees. Dip the tree first in the yellow, leaving the top portion of the tree in it's natural, undyed state. You will be dying the bottom 2/3's of the tree.

Once the yellow is your desired shade, move to the orange dye and dip the bottom 1/3 of the tree. You will be dying the orange OVER the yellow on the bottom of the tree.
The overdying gives you the candy corn effect.
To get black and orange you will also overdye the tree. Drop the whole tree in the orange first. Once it is dark enough you will move onto the black. To dye the top of the tree black hold the tree upside down in the black dye so that only the top of the tree is in the dye. When it is dark enough (the black dye takes a long time, pull up a chair while you wait), let it drip for a few minutes before moving onto dying the bottom or the black dye will run down into the middle and muck up the orange.

Then dye the bottom 1/3 of the tree by holding that portion of the tree in the black dye.
Let them dry overnight.

A few more hints: the very small trees did not take very well to the black/orange method. The top of those trees does not hold the black dye well for some reason.

Paint the white stands black with simple black acrylic paint.

When adding your embellishments, use hot glue! It holds the objects in the bristles the best.

If you have problems or it seems like something is missing, let me know. Happy creating!

You can see all of the finished trees here! .

Halloween Bottle Brush Trees

2008-09-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

If you read using a feed reader, there will be two posts, one for the show and tell type pictures and one post with a tutorial.
At some point last week I got a serious bee in my bonnet about Halloween bottle brush trees. I had to make them NOW NOW NOW. But I had other projects I had to finish first. I finally got them finished yesterday, and they are so fun! I made 21 in this batch.
There is a candy corn colored Boo tree;
there are trees with eyes (I would have preferred a different kind of eye, but I couldn't seem to find what I wanted and didn't want to spend yet more time making them, but maybe later I will);
there are ghosts hiding behind trees;
there are glittery spiders and spider webs;
these are my FAVORITE, flying bats!;
one with my only vintage Halloween cupcake topper on top;
and a big candy corn tree with vintage glass beads on it.

All of the decorations (aside from the glass beads and the cupcake topper) are things you can scavenge up from big box stores, party stores, etc. The bats, ghosts, witch hats and BOO are cut from Halloween garlands. The spiders are spider rings that I glittered with Martha glitter. The spider webs are those packaged things you string on your porch.

Cute huh?

Directions for making your own are in the next post.

Hello Autumn.

2008-09-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

I've been busy working on a really cute project that I am excited to share with you, but I need another day or two. So I thought I would revisit some of my favorite autumnal photos from years past.
A pumpkin full of sunflowers from Jack's number "free" burfday party decorations.
A fall tablecloth that can come back out of hiding.
A 2 year old Jack clutching his pumpkin treasure at Carl's farm.
Our big tree shows it's autumnal colors. (It was spectacular that year!)
A sweet owl table runner. (That wasn't with the Halloween decor this year and is temporarily in no man's land. I am now determined to find it.)
And a sweet three year old Jack amongst the pumpkins.

I love fall.

Really.

Welcome back.

P.S. Who is watching the new 90210? Come on, fess up, I know someone is! I read an article in Nylon before it premiered that went on and on about how lame the original was and how "edgy" the new version would be. Umm, yea. Sure. I am watching it, and I like it, but edgy? Not so much. And I KNEW they were going to make Dylan that baby's daddy. LOL

Feedsacks, Finds, Feuds & Fungi

2008-09-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Barbara asked if I could help her with some stains on an AMAZING feedsack score she recently made. I am always happy to oblige on the stain front, and she wondered if I had any feedsacks I wanted to share today. Here are a few new ones I found recently, and an old favorite. As always you can click to enlarge.
Love these geometric prints. And this one is very autumnal.
I *found* this one in my own fabric stash. I didn't even realize it was a feedsack when I picked it up. D'oh!
My most cherished sack, soft pink with a cotton print.
And another recent geometric score.

Y'all are gonna faint when you see the ones she recently found though!
This is my best thrift find this week, a HUGE picture frame for the hallway . That white window can finally go!
I just liked this photo, lol. The frame has roses on it. Love.
Remember my pumpkin ? Well, the damn squirrel ate it! This means war squirrel. Don't say I didn't warn you.

(And it's the only pumpkin we got this year on the vine again. I think it isn't sunny enough where they sprout, but the neighbor kids are sure to steal them in all the sunny spots we do have. Can't win this battle methinks.)
We have gigantic fungi explosions all over the backyard at the moment. (And they stink.) Jack comes running this morning saying, "Mama! Look at the big window in the kitchen! We have marshmallows all over the yard."

Heh, marshmallows. Love that kid.

There you have it: feedsacks, finds, feuds and fungi. Happy Friday!

Thrift store remix

2008-09-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

Jack and I were given a pair of Babylegs when he was small, and we both love them to pieces. He likes wearing them when it snows, and I think they are just too cute. I've been wanting a Halloween pair for years, but never have managed to order a pair.
I was wandering around Goodwill last week and spotted a pair of girls tights from the Halloween line last year at Target that were still new in the package. Price? $2.00. I figured I would let him choose if he wanted socks or leg warmers since he has been asking for Halloween socks whenever we are in the store.

He chose "winter socks". Above they are in their original form, tights.
I cut the leg portion off to make the leg warmers and then sat on them for awhile trying to figure out the best way to make them. (Those are our original babylegs lying next to the tight leg.)

I was trolling flickr and came upon this DIY babylegs tutorial , which was just what I needed.
I saved the feet from the tights to make him regular socks, so I made the cuffs with the crotch part of the tights. The first cuff I made is a bit smaller than the others, which I could fix, but it's on the ankle so it fits fine. (And you all know that in my house close is often good enough! LOL)
We both love them. Why did I wait so long to do this?!?!

And $2 for leg warmers AND regular socks is unbeatable.

P.S. Yesterday Jack managed to poke himself in the eye. He was crying and I couldn't sort out what was wrong with him until he shouted out, "MOM! I POKED MY EYE OUT." Man, it makes me laugh to even type that. It was like a scene right out of A Christmas Story.

P.P.S. Martha is looking to review a blog or two, you can sign up to get your blog thrown in the hat. If you so desire. Let's just hope if they come here they don't search for minion, ok? :-)

Portrait of a mama

2008-09-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

2 days ago Jack stood next to me, pen and paper in hand, and sketched a portrait of me. I love that he added my glasses and my earrings. When he added in that tongue he declared, "NO! NO! NO! Now you look like grandpa. There, you will look like grandpa when you are 100." And he scribbled the 100 below the portrait. LOL

It's my new profile picture. :-)
Jack has had another big growth spurt and with it has come a big burst of confidence. The last time we went to this particular park he was more like a toddler to me, and these bouncy things were way too scary for him. (And that was sometime early this spring I think!)

Not anymore.
The big, huge tunnel slide is no longer scary either.

The last unknown playground territory are the monkey bars. I am sure that soon enough he will be whizzing across those also.
Although he still refuses to cooperate with my photo taking craziness.

Some things never change, do they?

Crepe paper ruffles, mini tutorial

2008-09-15T12:13:00.001-07:00

A few people have emailed with some questions about the garland, so here is a quick and dirty version of some instructions. Jack has a touch of a head cold, so I will just tell you about a few other notes to go with the ruffles.

If you buy Martha glitter at Wal-mart it comes with a tiny tube of glitter glue that is perfect for glittering the edge of the crepe paper. I actually refilled that tube with generic craft glue and an eyedropper because it made just the right size line of glue on the edges.

I punched the holes with a tiny craft hole punch, used scrapbook brads through those holes, and just shoved the brads through the seam binding to hang it.

Because the stickers are really sticky, I used circles cut from the plastic the stickers came on to cover up the sticker part that was still showing on the back so it wouldn't get covered in cat hair.

I always use crepe paper streamers instead of crepe paper because it is easy to find those. The older ones work better if you use the sewing machine method, they bunch better for some reason. If you can only find newer crepe paper, try adjusting your stitch length.
Start with a sticker with a hole punched in the top.
Cut a piece of the crepe paper streamer to about 24 inches.
Stick the streamer to the back of the super sticky sticker about 1/4 in from the edge. You will not be able to move it around if you use the Martha stickers, that is some serious glue on those things.
I am right handed and find it easier to pleat with the paper going up instead of down, so I actually pleat counter clockwise. To start the pleating just start folding the paper over like you are making a paper fan. Smaller pleats = more wrinkles. Because the stickers are sticky, you don't need any glue or anything. If you are doing this on cardstock or some other medium, you can glue each pleat down. (I will tell you I find that method rather tedious and in those cases use method two.)
Keep folding and sticking, folding and sticking until you reach the end. At the end you will need a touch of glue where the two pieces of crepe paper are meeting and at the outside edge where they are meeting.

Sometimes it doesn't end up looking neat on the edge, just trim that extra triangle off with the scissors.
Et viola! A rosette.
Method two*: Stick the crepe paper on the sewing machine. Line the edge up with the edge of the presser foot. Set your stitch length to a fairly long length. My machine will only go to a 4.5, so that's what I use.
Put the pedal to the metal. You can see that it ruffles instantly, make sure not to sew over the already curled ruffle as it bends back around on you!
You can then glue the ruffle to anything you want: glittered letters, cardstock, etc.

Hope that helps!

*Actually, this probably would have been faster on the Halloween garland than doing it by hand. But, eh, sometimes doing it by hand is nice too. Each method does have a slightly different finished look.

**We did some fiddling with the fonts. It's a sort of swirly font on my computer now, maybe it's changed for some of you too. (Hopefully not for the worse for anyone. That always seems to happen to someone.)

The view from your chair

2008-09-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the photoless, rather boring post, but Jack is off to preschool soon and I need to spend the day turning our house into a Halloween wonderland for him. (Yes, he is still asking me 20 times a day where our Halloween decor is, and I want it to be a surprise.)

But to the point, I need to know what ye olde blog looks like from your chair.

I am pretty sure that if you are running windows XP with either Internet Explorer or Firefox that the font here is sort of swirly. (At least on post titles, sidebar info and the blog banner.)

On Windows Vista with IE on this new machine it is some sort of HUGE clunky font, and all over the place.

I have no idea what it might look like on a Mac.

What does it look like for you? (And if you know what platforms and browsers you are using, I am interested in that. I wonder if it is that way for everyone on vista?)

We need try and do some blog repair this weekend, but I need a better feel for whats happening on other computers.

:-) Thank you kindly!

Quilt month, the most FAQ

2008-09-10T10:38:00.001-07:00

It's quilt month over at Mr Monkeysuit , and I agreed to participate. I figured my most useful quilt talk right now is about vintage quilts. So here we go!
You've finally managed to find an old quilt at the thrift or at the flea, and you were so excited you drug it home without even giving it the sniff test. You get it home and discover it's dirty or it just plain stinks and panic starts to set in right? I mean how on earth do you clean it?

At least that seems to be the burning question on most of your minds based on my inbox. :-) Keep in mind that I am no expert, but I will tell you how I do it, having had a go around (or 50*) with old quilts.

The MOST important issue in my mind is: what is the quilt worth to you? Have you invested a lot of money? Was it made by hand with love by Grandma Betty? Do you think it might be historically important? Are you going to cry hysterically if it falls to pieces? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, I wouldn't touch the thing with a ten foot pole.
On the other hand, if it was cheap, or you cannot live with it if you don't do something to it, well then, have a go at it.

My personal standards tend to be to just live with most imperfections in old quilts. If they smell "old", but not like cat pee or something disgusting, I just air them out on the line until the smell goes away. It takes awhile. If it smells like mothballs it might take days. In that case you should be sure to air it with the backside up, so you don't fade the printed fabrics on the front.

If there are small spots that are NOT mildew, I also just live with those.
Ok, fine. But you have a real problem, a serious stink, a huge amount of dirt or worse, mildew**. What now?

We are very accustomed to our washing machines, so you might not like this answer, but I recommend washing it by hand. Most folks recommend the bathtub. That kills my back, so I use one of those plastic kiddie pools on top of a patio table so it is at waist height.

Do not be fooled into thinking you shouldn't use detergent. Detergent is made to keep dirt from redepositing on fabric, so you need something. Our everyday detergent is one of those free & clear deals, so I use that. I wouldn't use anything heavily scented or anything that is dyed blue or purple (you wouldn't want more stains). Don't put too much in there though, or you will be rinsing for days.

You are going to need to very gently agitate the quilt by hand. Be careful! When old fabric is wet it is very fragile and likely to tear. It can soak awhile if it needs it.
Time to rinse. I usually squish the quilt to one side and dump the soapy water into the yard while holding the quilt. This very well might require a second person. One to hold the quilt gently and one to tip the pool to drain it.

Add fresh water and agitate again to remove the soap. Drain the water out again. Repeat as many times as necessary to get it rinsed very well.

Time to pick it up to let it dry.

I squeeze it again against the side of the pool to get as much water as I can out without ripping it to pieces. Then slide a sheet underneath it and lift it out to lay it on the grass.

It is going to be VERY heavy, try and distribute the weight evenly to avoid tearing. Let it dry on the grass face down on the sheet, backside up to the sun.

I know, you are worried about birds. I have never had a bird poop on a quilt yet, and we have a lot of birds in the trees. Just try to find an open area of the yard if you can.

But what about big stains like the one in the picture here? Washing didn't do it. Because this is a baby quilt, I put it in my HUGE pot on the stove to keep the water warm and I gently warmed it in a pretty heavy solution of borax. (1 cup borax to one big pot of water.) After a few hours the stain was significantly lightened.

If I had been more aggressive I could have made it all the way white again, but then I risk causing more damage than it is worth it to me just to have a perfectly white back.

Borax is a good place to start for stains. I know I have raved about oxiclean before, and it does have it's place, but borax is a lot gentler and a lot less likely to cause fade, dye bleed or eat holes. If you need to, you can use borax in the kiddie swimming pool too. Try to get some warm water off the stove instead of just cold water from the hose. (Warm, not hot.)

Ok, Sarah. That is all fine and dandy, but I am WAY, WAY too lazy for all that. Then what?

You can put it in the washing machine. I have done it. But there is going to be some damage from that. It could be a small amount that you could live with, it could be a lot. It's really hard to tell until you just do it. Whatever it is, it is VERY unlikely that it will come out exactly as it went in.

I would never put one in the dryer. If it's winter it will have to wait until it gets warm outside to get clean.

Then enjoy! Keep in mind if you are using them for daily use that the more times you have to wash it, the shorter it's life will be.

* The collection is likely over 50 at this point. I picked up this baby quilt at the flea last weekend, and it certainly put me over the 50 mark. I really want to get photographs of them all, and I hope to do that this fall. Close ups of each block are on Flickr.

** Mildew is a whole 'nother beast. If you have that problem, I might be able to help, but you are better off emailing me with pictures.

Look mom

2008-09-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

Look at me mom!
I'm a robot. Can you see me? (He completely closed himself in, but the only photo I got had my finger in it.)
Here I am!
Hmmmmm, maybe I am a Jack-in-the-box also.

"Mom! Stop saying 'I don't know.' You should say 'I'm not sure.'"

"Mom! I cannot get these damn shoes on." "Jack, you are not allowed to say damn." "Well, it's just like a beaver dam." (I keel over dead on the floor here. Wasn't he supposed to be like 8 before he started that stuff?)

Creeping in

2008-09-08T07:22:00.001-07:00

The Halloween decorations are starting to slowly creep in around here. (Much too slow for Jack's taste. He is still reminding me every day that all the other places have their Halloween out and we do not*.) When he and I had gone to Michaels to check out the Martha Halloween stuff, I fell in love with these stickers . They instantly screamed garland to me.
At first I thought I would just hole punch them and hang them up, but I can never just stop there. So I added the crepe paper rosettes from some old crepe paper streamers I have kicking around.
Of course, I couldn't stop there either. So it was on to the glittering. (Which was most labor intensive. Making a teeny tiny line of glitter around the edge of a paper ruffle requires nerves of steel.)
Then it took me another 3 days to work out how to hang it up. I had already punched holes in the stickers before I really thought this project through. At some point in the middle of the night it occurred to me to use those tiny scrapbooking brads through the holes and then punch the brads onto some old seam binding. It worked like a charm.

And most importantly, I actually finished something.

I have been trying to finish glitter a pumpkin for about 5 days. Sigh.

*I cannot seem to make any headway on anything this year. All I do is cook and clean, clean and cook and try to wrangle Jack through this most difficult period for both him and I. Sometimes I wonder if it is all in my head, how hard it seems this year. To make myself feel better (really worse), I went back and looked at the last 3 months in 2007 and the last 3 months in 2008. In 2007 I managed to make 14 crafts from June through August. In 2008? 5 if I am generous and count things I made with Jack.

I was reading Amanda's book a few months back, and the beginning really reasonated with me about the NEED to create once you have a child. (Not that some folks do not have that without a child, but when Jack arrived that is when it really started for me.) I have mentioned this before, but making things gives me a sense of true completion that mothering and housekeeping do not. I can start something and I can finish something. It won't be messy again in an hour, it won't need me again in 10 minutes.

My mental health is starting to suffer from the genuine lack of time to myself to do that this year.

Anyway, that's a lot more than I intended to go on about when I sat down to post this morning. LOL

I'm baaaaaccccckkkkkk

2008-09-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well, my new toy is here. Isn't she hot? LOL I still feel all discombobulated though. I have to work out how to use Vista and I have lost all my bookmarks* and all that jazz.

But regular blogging should resume momentarily. Speaking of the blog, holy hell it looks ugly on this machine. The font is totally WACKADOODLE as Suede would say.

(Photo from Dell.)
And now some long overdue business. My gorgeous doll quilt swap arrived from my partner Robyn . Isn't it a beauty? I love that little bit of pink on the binding.
And the sweet print on the back! I love it. Thank you Robyn!

Sorry the photos are a bit blinding. It is cold and rainy here. (Yes, cold. In St Louis. In September. I am pretty certain we are in some bizarre wormhole.)
We managed to take Jack mini golfing for the first time last weekend. (When it was still warm and sunny!)
If there is one thing that is certain, it's that there is no denying that this boy is mine. I remember going mini golfing with my grandma when I was small and I was so infuriated with the task of trying to get that little ball into that impossible hole that I threw a massive fit and threw the ball as I hard as I could into the air, over the fence and well beyond the mini golf place.

Jack actually tried to putt, oh, once. Then he resorted to throwing the ball into the hole. LOL Nevermind that though, he had a grand time and was asking when he could go again before we were back to the car.

He and I went to the zoo today and rode the train round and round and round until I was so cold I had to call uncle and send us on our way. The chill in the air is awesome though, and my little assistant reminds me every single day that all the stores have their Halloween up and he is not so patiently waiting for us to have ours up too. It's a good thing I bought the Halloween jammies today.

In fact, he is watching the great pumpkin without me! And I want to go join in.

Be back tomorrow with a completed Halloween craft for you. (After we go apple picking. Is the world starting to spin faster with Autumn on the way, or is it just me?)

* Erm, I don't always have every single blog I read on my bloglines. If it seems like you haven't seen me around your blog in a coon's age, it's possible I have lost the link. Leave a comment so I can find you again please? Thanks. :-)