thimbly things

It was a wonderful and tiring weekend in which I squeezed in as many naps as possible!  But I must say that I have some of the best friends anyone could ask for.  All the fanciness of my baby shower was entirely their doing, and it was just lovely.

To top it all off, Mindy, Zuri, and Jaime went in together to get me what I believe is the coolest rocking chair I have ever seen.  Really, it couldn’t be a smidge more perfect!

I made a couple of hostess gifts before the shower and humbly thanked them.

The latest addition to the yarn basket:

Rag Balls.  These are scraps of old clothes that have seen better days.  I was up until 1 am making these.  And there are many more to come.

I hope to make a rug out of these, but I’m sure I’ll need to shred many more old T-shirts and such before I have enough for anything substantial.  I checked Mason-Dixon Knitting out of the library, and there’s a neat pattern for a log cabin-style rug.  It actually calls for yarn and scraps of woven material, but it’s one of those patterns where it doesn’t really matter.  The ultimate goal is a rectangle big enough to stand on.  (Note: I just did a quick search on mason-dixon knitting, and I quickly came across the authors’ blog.  The latest entry talks about making rag balls and, a few entries later, the log cabin rug (which is actually called “The Tailgate Rag Rug”)!  Pretty neat.  Guess I can return that library book without making photocopies first…)

This Friday’s WIP: Cleaning the house for tomorrow.  And that’s a major WIP.  And I need to write an article for the church’s women’s newsletter.  Yet here I am telling you about fabric balls that have nothing to do with anything I should be doing.

Must step away from the Mac… unless I’m writing that article…

Lately that’s what I’ve been doing: making piles of stuff.  Piles of laundry, piles of hand-me-downs, piles for Goodwill, piles of toys to clean, piles of baby supplies, and piles of these:

And more of these:

Of course, the cookies and brooches are for Saturday, but I’ve also spent time making stuff for No Particular Reason.  Thus this:

And this:

Honestly.  How kitsch is that?  And not even in a truly hip way.  It’s kitsch in a late-1980s-blue-and-mauve-country way.  But I still might hang it in the kitchen window.  At least for a spell.

Really though, what’s the harm?  I found this little guy in my $4 Quality Thrift goody bag.  The paint was nearly dried up (one color was), and the plastic paint wells were so brittle that–you might notice–the latches on most of them broke when I tried to open them.

This is such a funny “hobby” to me.  There’s not much to it.  It’s easier than paint-by-number since you can’t accidentally bleed into the wrong area with the paint.  There are walls separating each section, and the “paint” is really supposed to be a thin stain that more or less spreads itself out.  And then, when you’re all done, that satisfied feeling of accomplishment is rather diminished by the pitiful look of the project.  No matter how hard you try, it will never look like real stained glass.

I say all this, and yet I spent at least an hour filling in those little spaces with the cruddy old paint and cheap, limp paintbrush.  It’s a compulsion, I tell ya.

[How does one know for certain that it’s time to move up from size 3 to size 4 in diapers?  When 2 out of 4 mornings greet you with a major poopy accident.  It had to be said.]

In crafting news, I was up way too late working on these for my upcoming shower.

My lovely friends Mindy and Zuri are the hostesses, and yet I feel a strong compulsion to make everything for the shower.  Maybe it’s just my general crafting compulsion.  I want to make stuff all the time anyway, so why not use this excuse (and actually have a goal and a purpose)?

They’re about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and I’m just making each one up as I go along.  I want to pull some different blue fabrics into the mix too.  I planned to sew on the pins, but it looks like hot glue will be my friend instead.  Sewing those pointy, awkward pins on is just a little more time-consuming than I realized.

Just as I was wrapping things up for the night, I checked my RSS feed to find a comment from this lady who also makes brooches.  Her work is so cute and inspirational!  And I thought it a bit ironic.

———————————————————————————–

And here’s just a little more Easter joy for you: Emily putting stickers on her Easter card from Bibi and Papa Joe (Evan’s parents).

Look at that furrowed brow!  She’s concentrating so hard.  And improving her fine motor skills!  Honestly, she spent at least 2 hours working on this.

Her little crafty hands are hard at work.  I wonder what she’ll do with those hands when she grows up…

Thanks, Bibi and Papa Joe!  What a perfect gift.

Easter was a smashing success, though we never managed to take a family picture. For all three of us to be still, be clean, be dressed, and have someone else available to snap a picture while it’s nice and sunny… well, it is very difficult. Even with friends over, we couldn’t get our act together long enough for them to take the picture for us. Alas, maybe another Sunday.

Emily got some egg-shaped sidewalk chalk this year, though she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Anything remotely resembling a ball should be thrown, in her opinion. To be fair, she scribbled a little bit before she started picking at the little sticks and dead grass near her.

I refurbished the dress I showed you here for her to wear to church. Emily pranced around in it before we left–like she just knew she was sooo pretty. Feminine instinct, my friend.

Here’s a round-up of her Easter booty. One bunny, a chick, an extra set of bunny ears, 3 eggs, a tin bucket, and a sweet, store-bought lamb from family. I apologize for the not-so-artful picture. I snapped it just moments before Emily found her new friends.

Look at that serious face.

Soon after meeting and greeting all her new pals, Emily began the meticulous relocation of Every. Single. Thing. Evan says she gets this tendency from me.

The rest of our day was filled with yummy food, friends, games, and a relaxing good time. I hope yours was just as splendid!

Yesterday was an unexpected holiday for us, as Evan had Good Friday off for the first time ever.  It was also the second day of Spring, and it felt like it.  So my nesting instinct was compounded by my spring-cleaning instinct.  I switched out my winter wardrobe for my spring (and realized that most of my clothes are 4-5 years old and meant for a body that has not been through 2 pregnancies.  But here’s hoping!).  I cleaned the bathroom floor–the part we’ve been ignoring for months now.  I moved furniture.  Or directed furniture movement.  And I reorganized closets.  I may have made the coffee a little strong yesterday… (I couldn’t even sit still long enough to check my email, much less blog.)

Let’s talk about hanging stuff on the walls.  Why is it so stinkin’ hard to do?  We’ve been in our house for a year, and stacks of pictures gathering dust bunnies around them have been the norm for us.

So once I determined an arrangement that might work… and was in major project-mode, I begged Evan to carry out my vision.

Not too exciting, I realize.  But I can’t recount to you just how much this stressed me out.  Something about putting holes in freshly painted walls.  Before I snapped pictures, I adorned our new hooks with my favorite winter gear.  One last time before the pretty hats are stashed away for fresh, warm-weather accessories.

In the midst of all my doings yesterday, Evan took Emily to the park.  But not before he pointed out a yard sale happening just down the street.  Two houses away, I found these goodies for $1.  Four quarters, to be exact.

That’s 2 twin-sized fitted sheets in matching vintage floral, 3 planters, 2 pretty white vases, and an old cheese grater (it was free, and ours started rusting the day we brought it home–I figured it was worth a try).  Actually, the planters and vases were free too.  I just paid .50 for each sheet.  Good deal.

There’s much to do today, what with Easter dinner planning and tying up a few Easter projects.  I hope the nesting mode kicks in again.  Yesterday was just so productive that my hips ached around midnight.  Not that I want to ache, but you understand.

Here for your vicarious enjoyment are the Cream Cheese Mints that have life-changing properties.  How do they change your life?  Depends on how many you eat!

Aren’t they pretty?  I think anything coated in that much sparkling sugar is a sight to behold.  Of course, they need a pretty little dish to hang out on.  I just pulled them out of the freezer and snapped a picture.  But now you can see how perfect these are for dainty little parties.  Add some chocolate concoction and glazed nuts, and you’re good to go.

As it turns out, the tension rod in the kitchen is too long for the little nook in the bathroom.  I think I’ll just take my time and ponder the possibilities of my new fabric before I jump in.  I always have that initial excitement that makes me a bit irrational with new crafting supplies.  But if I sit on my ideas and materials for too long, I don’t do anything.  Hopefully blogging about all this will help me be both productive and rational all at once…

Speaking of productivity, while Evan had a Super Smash Bros. Wii party last night, I entertained the girls and finished a WIP.  These little blossoms are from Pretty Knits by Susan Cropper (another great library find!).

The pattern is for a brooch, but I used larger needles than called for (#6) and made a bouquet instead.

These are intended as decoration for my upcoming baby shower (hence my silly rhyming title).  Though some friends are throwing it for me, I can’t let go of the opportunity to make lots and lots of stuff.  I’m now obsessing over favors, but I must keep those a secret.

I will tell you that I’m making Cream Cheese Mints to freeze for the party.  With only 4 ingredients (2 of which are sugar…), they are delicious and addictive.  Thanks to my dear friend Page, who introduced me to these years ago.  If I remember correctly, the recipe goes like this:

1 bag powdered sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 8 oz.  block cream cheese
several drops oil of peppermint (to taste)
food coloring (optional)

*You’ll also need a candy mold, though you could just smoosh the mints between your fingers if you don’t have one.  I found my mold at Michaels, where I also found oil of peppermint in a set with other candy flavorings.

Combine powdered sugar and cream cheese.  This gets tough, but you just have to get your hands dirty.  Then add mint to your liking.  Don’t overdo it though!  And, as Page always said, you must use oil of peppermint and not mint extract!   Just keep tasting it until you know it’s right.  At this stage, you can also add a drop or two of food coloring.

The next part is time-consuming, and you should probably enlist the help of a friend or two.  With cream cheese concoction thoroughly mixed and a bowl of granulated sugar, pinch off quarter-sized bits of mixture, roll in your hands, coat in sugar, and then press into candy mold.  The granulated sugar should help in removing the mints from the mold.  If you have trouble releasing them, try sprinkling sugar into the mold before pressing mints into it.

Set mints out on a paper towel or plate to dry for an hour or two.  Once dried to your liking, you can freeze them for your upcoming party where they’re sure to be a hit!  Just try not to eat them all in the meantime.

OK, Page, did I get all that right?  I hope so, since I’ll be making some quite soon!

I got my package from Sew, Mama, Sew!  Though I requested two half-yard increments of different fabrics, I’m not at all disappointed to have received just the Awesome Octagons I talked about last week.  I have many-a-vision for it, and it’s good that I have a full yard.

I think it does match the bathroom nicely and fits with the retro styling.  Now, if I could find (and afford) some octagonal mirrors to replace what we have, that would be so stinkin’ great.  And maybe I can just paint the light fixtures white.  They’re rust-colored.  Rust + Pink + Burgundy + Taupe = You do the math.

But this fabric…

As soon as the photo shoot ended, I gathered all the laundry in the house, adding my new yardage to the pile.  As soon as it’s dried and pressed, I might make a curtain for the vanity and steal the tension rod out of the kitchen window.  There will be plenty left over for other projects as well.

By the way, I watched Steel Magnolias last night (for about the 86th time), and Shelby’s bathroom (where she talks to Jackson before their wedding) has the exact same pink and burgundy tile scheme as ours.  I don’t know if that’s a good or bad sign, since the movie is so quintessentially 1980s.  Big hair, ugly bridesmaids’ gowns, unflattering pants, etc.  But it’s also one of the most endearing and enduring films I can think of.  I am a girl from the South, but still…

Making the mail even more special today was an unexpected card and gift we received from Evan’s parents.  Thanks guys!  That was so encouraging!