thimbly things

The weekend makes me tired.  I think for most people, the weekend is a time to recharge.  For me, it’s my chance to get out and get things done.  So sometimes I overdo it.  And then I crash.  I napped on Saturday and on Sunday, just as I did last weekend, and then I suffered from slight insomnia last night.  Just couldn’t get it quite right.

It was a lovely weekend though.  I went to the tried and true Quality Thrift Store a quarter-mile away and picked up some neat finds.  Instead of crocheting my own, I found a random-stripe ripple afghan for $5.  And it’s already broken in.

I also found this tediously embroidered tree.  No lie–about 7 people stopped me at the thrift store to comment on it.   Lots of Oh, that’s interesting!s.  I agree.  Though it is also a bit strange.  I’m thinking of embellishing it somehow.  Perhaps with birds or flowers.  Any ideas?

And here is my Mystery WIP.  I began it while watching Barton Fink with Evan, and it evolved into I don’t know what.  A scarf?  A purse?  A pillow?  I really don’t know.  At first, I was working from a pattern in Pretty Knits.  I knew my gauge was off, but I didn’t realize how off.  I decided to make a ruffle to slim things down, and now I don’t know what this is anymore.  But it started as a bag.  Hmmm…

Speaking of Barton Fink, Evan is doing a Coen Brothers Month over at Movie Zeal.  He talked me into watching all 12 of their films sequentially with him.  I’ve never studied a director (or two) in this way before, and it’s very interesting to see their work evolve.  I find that I feel strongly about every film–I either love it or hate it.  But then I also think Perhaps this will be better upon a second viewing…  I don’t know.  I’ve always loved Raising Arizona.  Since I was about 8 years old.  Knowing the quirkiness of this film helped me appreciate Blood Simple.  I couldn’t help but notice similar themes, camera angles, and even a splash of their Coen humor.  But when we got to Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink, I was pretty disappointed.  But like I said, maybe if I watch them again?

Last night was The Hudsucker Proxy night.

And The Brothers redeemed themselves.  At least, for now.

Here it is in all its bright glory.  The handles are pretty huge because it’s just silly for me to make a bag that doesn’t fit over my shoulder.  Maybe an evening bag like so would be alright, but this bag is going places.  Like the grocery store and Target.

So far today, I have packed my suitcase for the hospital, with the exception of a few things we’ll have to grab on our way out the door.  I also began the search for someone to watch Emily during labor & delivery.  This is difficult because we have no family nearby, and most of our friends have small children of their own to care for or full-time jobs (That’s pretty much everyone we know who hasn’t retired yet.).  If you’re a friend in Tulsa reading this, please call us if you have any ideas.  Thanks!

Yesterday, I sat down to blog and looked down at my hand only to find a tiny diamond missing from my wedding band.  What an awesome April Fool’s Day joke that would have been–were it a joke.  But it was not, and I just couldn’t muster the joy I needed to do anything but complain (and decided to spare you).  I have since decided that it isn’t a big deal.  It won’t be much to replace, and it forces me to think about getting real insurance for my ring.  The rest of the day was lovely.  I just never made it back to the computer.

The skies were clear in Tulsa on the first day of April, and I snapped a few random pictures of our home and did a photo shoot with Emily on the front lawn.

Here are some baby clothes that are destined to be repurposed.  I really love that linen floral on top.  Too bad the original dress is heavily stained.  And that purple knit cardigan would make such a pretty sachet… and maybe mittens too.  As it now exists, it has a funny, purple faux-fur collar on it.  Yikes!

I finally washed all of our neutral baby clothes (We didn’t know if Emily was a boy or a girl), and I was surprised by just how much we have.  It’s so sad and sweet remembering Emily in each piece.  And it’s a little funny since the clothes really do look like they’re for a boy and not so much “gender neutral!”

I crocheted a bag from The Happy Hooker, probably because of this little bit of inspiration.

I bought handles for the purse today at Joann Fabrics (with my 40% off coupon, of course!  Never buy anything there without a coupon unless it’s on sale!).  When the lighting permits, I’ll snap a picture of the finished project to share.

During March, I challenged myself to make a little something every day (with the exception of Sundays).  I sort of succeeded although I sometimes counted cooking as making.  Like on Easter.  Julia and I cooked a lot, and it seemed very much like a full day of crafting.

So what of April?  April is Baby Brother’s expected birth month, so I’m dedicating my days to preparing for and, ultimately, caring for him (and Emily too!!!).   There is much that I haven’t done, so every day I hope to knock out some task that’s burdening me, no matter how small.  Yesterday I got his clothes ready.  Today I bought flannel for him and plan to call the hospital to set up a registration appointment.

There’s so much to do, but it’s a good kind of busy.  And I haven’t forgotten the point of it all. :)

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.

We’re having quite the overcast (and now rainy) St. Paddy’s Day here in Tulsa, and I’m hard-pressed to find any green worth photographing. Except the neighbor’s yard. Just across the street, our very nice neighbor has a green lawn while everyone else’s is still blah blah brown. There is a flowering tree across the street as well, and I keep wondering if the neighbors (who all appear to be home for Spring Break) will think me insane if I hobble over there with my camera and toddler.

Yellow has been more of an inspiration as of late. I realized this when I read SouleMama’s post on bringing the sun into her house (via painting a room yellow). This may be surprising to friends who know that when we moved into our house, I painted over our yellow walls immediately. Green, in fact. Our living room was the color of a Granny Smith apple for almost a year. Until I convinced Evan that I would indeed lose my mind if I didn’t repaint it. He said, “Fine. But it’s your project.” He was gone for 2 weeks in January and came home to an almost-half-painted-living-room. Thankfully, he helped me finish. Thankfully.

Here’s a picture that shows just how vivid and overwhelming the walls could be (in certain light):

Insanely bright. Neon. And very little looked good on the walls. So there’s some green for the holiday!

I tried to do a round-up of green craftiness to share, but it was quickly disassembled by Em.

Thank you Brobee for being the awesome Little Green One today. As for my hang-up on yellow, it’s mostly centered around this hand-me-down dress someone gave us:

It’s very pretty–on a hanger. But the collar is too much pretty, I think. Too much frill. I cut it off this weekend and sewed on some fresh binding. What to do next? Hmm…

And for all my readers who don’t know, WIP stands for “Work in Progress.”  I got your back.

Around these parts, I’ve been focused on swelling, hormonal changes, an upcoming baby shower, and…

Easter!   It’s so much fun to have a little person to make cute little things for.  Emily might not even care all that much about getting a new toy, but one day she’ll be able to ask me to make something for her and give me all the specifics.  And it feels good knowing that I might help her carry out her very important vision.  I remember having those dreams as a kid.  I would draw out elaborate dollhouses or design clothing collections for my dolls.  The imagination of a child is such a fabulous thing.  The only problem is seeing those imaginative designs through to completion.  Well, this mama will be happy to step in and help out.

Here’s a peak at Emily’s Easter Bunny (pattern by Wee Wonderfuls, embellishments by me):

And here’s the start of a friend for Bunny:

I know, it doesn’t look like much yet, but just wait.

As promised, here is Emily’s new Brobee doll. I felt a little guilty about making a bunny that she couldn’t play with, so it was nice to quickly whip up a toy she was sure to love. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that Emily is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. She’s been be-bopping to it for several months now and has recently learned to beg, saying, “Abba! Abba!”

Doesn’t she look like such a baby? This morning, she carried her blankies around and sucked on her ba-ba for about an hour. So sweet. Hold onto that babyhood a little longer, please.

As for Brobee, the awesome Allison who made up the pattern deserves another shout-out. She’s on Craftster, which I just joined for the purpose of thanking her. Now Evan thinks I should make all the characters from the show. Maybe Foofa…

EDIT: I was just looking at this site that sells YGG dolls, and all the Brobees are sold out!  I guess he’s popular.

Remember my plan to make something every day?  Well, I sort of have.  I just haven’t posted every day.  Tuesday I got all caught up in making this little gal:

and only had disassembled body parts to photograph by midnight.  And no one wants to see those pictures.  Creepy.  Creepy the way animal skins are creepy at Build-A-Bear.  I feel confident saying that, even after working there for 2 summers during college.  She’s from Narumi Ogawa’s Super Crochet Wonderful, though a change in the face and a few mistakes made her look like her own little person.

I couldn’t stop with just a bunny.  I mean, she’s so dress-able!  Like a Barbie but much more innocent.  When I tried Narumi’s pattern for a dress, however, things didn’t quite work out.  Either my tension was off or it was the yarn… I don’t know, but it was my own fault and not the fault of the pattern.  So on Wednesday I got inventive.  Afterall, it was the day of Project Runway’s finale finale.  (Make it work!)

The funny thing is that I used the excuse of making Emily an Easter bunny for this particular project, but I fear I got carried away and made her inappropriate for a 17-month-old.  She has button eyes and a lacy flower sewn to her ear (which hides the wonkiness of said ear).  It just doesn’t seem safe–for Emily or the bunny.

Do not fret.  I will just make another bunny.  I’m thinking of the simple wee bunny pattern by Wee Wonderfuls.  Oh how I adore Hillary Lang.  And maybe my wrist can get a break from my crochet addiction.

In the meantime, I’m working on a Brobee for Em.  It’s just too perfect.

It stormed yesterday. Then it snowed. Then it stopped. Then it snowed more last night. Now the sun is out and the temperature’s mild. Since I never got around to cutting out snowflakes this year, I decided to try out this pattern from Martha. Mind you, my snowflake hasn’t been meticulously starched, so it looks a little more like a shabby doily right now. By the time I finished it yesterday, the snow was all gone.

But it was still quite cold. To ward off the draft from our windows, I warmed myself up with this bowl (one of my recent thrifting finds!) of baby lima beans drizzled with hot sauce and cheese.
The cheese is what really made it extra yummy. We get it from the Swan Bros. Dairy. It’s the only place in Oklahoma that can legally sell raw milk for human consumption. (Technically, other dairies can sell a limited amount of raw milk each month, but I don’t know how regulated it is.) They also sell several different cheeses, both raw and natural. Evan has more or less organized a co-op with some of our friends, and now we have fresh, raw milk all the time. And it is good.

By the way, this is really inspiring me right now.  See the little crocheted cape & hood?  Oh my word.

My Joann circular informs me that March is National Craft Month.  Every month is craft month for me, but having an excuse to craft more is fine fine fine.  In honor of this month of awesome, I will try to make a little something every day.   Perhaps with the exception of Sundays.  On Sundays, I craft little dreams during my afternoon nap time.

A bit of crochet that may turn into something bigger:

And another bit of crochet:

What is it about crochet that makes one compulsively crochet things that aren’t quite useful?  I have no idea what to do with this pretty little square.  But I had to make it.  It’s about the size of a coaster but clearly cannot function as such.  I’ll work it into some project.  (Both of these designs are from 200 Crochet Blocks).

Saturday was another beautiful day.  A day when a mama can not only venture out… but venture out alone.  And I found that I don’t have to venture far to be satisfied.  Across the street, to be exact.  Across from our neighborhood is a kinda gross strip-mall.  Strip-malls are the bane of Tulsa life, but I digress.  I think I’ve been to this particular strip-mall 3 times now because it simply isn’t much of a destination point.  However, I was determined to do a bit of thrifting this weekend…

What better place to start than a shop calling itself Quality Thrift Store?  Though overpriced on the most arbitrary of items (ex: used pillowcase (just 1!) for $4), I made $16 go farther than I think I ever have before.   We’re talking .48 teacups and a grab-bag of crafting goodies for $4.  I was giddy for the rest of the day, perhaps from my great finds.  Or perhaps because I found treasure just across the street.

Thanks, Myrtle.  Wherever you are, you’re awesome.  And thanks lovely, though smelly, Quality Thrift Store.