Gourds, Jars, and Home Again

Yesterday, after leaving Tandi at the veterinary hospital, I tried to keep busy so I wouldn't miss her so much. I got my driver's license, filled up with gas ($2.60/gallon--down over $2.00 from a month ago!!!), hit the 50% sale at Michael's for more Halloween supplies, picked up 8 more pumpkins (and got soaking wet from the rain), and stopped at a cute little market across from the DMV.

I've wanted to see inside there for a while, so just decided to take the time. This was one of the outside displays:

Doesn't seem like much, does it?
Here's a different perspective:

That thing was HUGE!

Inside I bought some smaller pumpkins, and some Candy Crisp apples, and then look what I saw:

That teddy bear is a gourd! The lady there paints and carves gourds that her husband grows. They were wonderful. I put my purchases in the car, but then went back in and asked permission to take pictures of her work and post them on my blog. She was very gracious and placed her newest ones so I could get better photos of them.
Here are some of the many displayed in the little shop:


Isn't this a cute idea?

Don't you love this giraffe?

She was assisting another customer, so I couldn't ask her if that was 2 gourds together, but it would just about have to have been, or maybe three, I think.
She had several Christmas gourds:



Here is one I would LOVE to own:

And this one next to it is the one she was working on when I came in:


She doesn't blog (hasn't learned how to) but recently started a website, with some help from her family. She expected to sell one or two now and then to online customers, but someone ordered 20 from her, and she's working hard to get the orders filled. The Hummingbird one was $188.00, so it must be someone untouched by the sinking economy who has ordered so many!
She gave me her website address:
www.simplygourdgeouslive.com. She said to make sure you spell it "gourdgeous", because spelling it correctly will take you to a porn site!

Back home, after supper, I carved the toothy pumpkin:

Once I cut just past the rind, I found the natural green striations that determined just where the teeth would be. Then I angled the sides of the "teeth" to match those delineations, and scored the surface with the edge of a steak knife.

Tomorrow I'll put him, cardboard and all, into a large black trashbag and set him out in the sun, hopefully to warm enough to get moldy quickly. It stopped raining this morning, and is supposed to stay sunny through Halloween.

Then I labeled and filled some of the jars for the Laboratory:


I'm at a loss right now for how to label the two tall ones. You can see the poison label on the blue one, but I wanted to add something else, and to the green one, too. Any suggestions?

Today was spent mostly outside, putting up the dungeon wallpaper, setting up the ghost and two stunt tombstones, adding more to the lasagna flowerbed, and starting the spiderwebs. But I didn't get photos, because I had to run another errand.
Look who's home and all tuckered out:


The flash didn't even wake her.

As Tandi and I left the lobby of the animal hospital, whom did we run into but our own vet, looking a bit embarrassed. The assistant ran out to catch me before we drove off, since I'd forgotten Tandi's medicine, and I got a bit of the story from her. Seems Dr. M's dog ate lots of carpet yesterday and had to make a visit of his own. I didn't want to pry, but I have to wonder, since Dr. M brought his dog there, if the dog needed surgery. Guess even vets have pet troubles!

One More Day!

(Scroll down for the answer to last Saturday's movie trivia question)

Rough weekend at work! I think what jinxed me was taking the swap quilt to work to hand stitch the binding during "slower moments". Ha! Now I'm happy to be home and participating in a little fabric therapy.

I've found a few more items to add to my birthday/200th post/cleaning-up-the-sewing-room giveaway.

This is a wooden scroll-type plaque ready to paint and place on a wreath, or above a craft display:


Next are two little gold-tone angels, and a 3-dimensional pewter sewing machine, which could be used for embellishments:


The drawing is tomorrow at 10:00am, so you still have time to visit this post and leave a comment. I know it's a long post, but those blogs are worth visiting, as were the blogs I mentioned in a similar post. Besides, don't you want to see all the items I'm going to mail someone?

Good luck, everyone!

Weekend pasttime

Did everyone have a happy Fourth? I'd requested this long weekend off because DD was supposed to come for a visit. Next week is her 30th birthday, but she gets the Federal holidays off, and since we all 3 have summer birthdays, we usually celebrate them at the same time. However, she starts her new job in a new town in less than a month and still hasn't found a place for her and the pets to live, so she has been driving 8-hour round trips every weekend to see prospective abodes.

So I have taken this nice little stretch of off-days and am rearranging and organizing the sewing room. I bought a table with the drop-down panel for my "new" Bernina, which sits about 4 inches above the desktop surface I'd previously been using, and that was causing some muscle strain. I love my little desk, which was refinished by a 93-year-old man in Albuquerque, and sold at his yard sale. He sanded and polished it so, it feels smooth as silk when I run my hand over it.

Well, when it's not all cluttered up, that is.

I really love this carving on the front:


I still use the drawers for some sewing supplies and didn't want to move it out of the room, so after much thought, the set-up looks like this:

I can still see out my window while sewing, and if I want to, I can still put my Kenmore on the desk to sew. But the best part is when I have a large amount of fabric it can just drape back over to the desk.

I might have gotten it all done yesterday if I hadn't decided to cull through everything and try to reduce the clutter there. (Well, that, and the Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel.) I have a stack of books to take to our area bee to give away, and have started a box of miscellaneous items to donate. There are also a few craft books I think are collectibles and just can't bear to donate so I am considering posting them on eBay. I've never sold anything on there, but have bought lots of stuff, and I think it won't be too hard once I figure out how much to charge for shipping.

One thing this rearranging has brought home to me is just how much fabric I have! And how much of it is fabric I pulled together for specific quilts, which either haven't been sandwiched (so that's a lot of yardage there), or are still in the planning stages. It would free up a significant amount of space to empty those bins.

And yet, I bought more fabric Thursday. This is for my 4 Seasons Quilt Swap:

The bubble fabric was already in my stash, but the rest is new. I bought extra, because I know I will not want to part with the little quilt once it's done, so I'm going to make one for me, too.

This is to back the comfort quilt I made my best friend:

That fabric just had her name on it. Besides, I want the back to look nice, because it does get seen, if only by the person snuggled under it.

Then, Susan, my friend from the Biltmore trip, brought this in to work for me:


It's from a dust ruffle her aunt got rid of. She just tore the bed part off, and asked Susan if she knew anyone who could use it. Susan, who is bugging me to make her some throw pillows for her porch, immediately thought of the apron I made and decided I needed it. It's a 70/30 poly/cotton mix, but so pretty I couldn't pass it up. I believe there might be a few more aprons in my future.

So now that the TZ marathon is over, I should be able to finish up in the room today. When it's all cleaned up and arranged, I'll post some photos.

Oh, and if you play Movie Trivia with me, scroll down for today's question!

Meme

Pinky from Cheese in My Shoe tagged me about 11 days ago, and I finally got 'er done!

The Rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so we can track it as travels across the blogosphere.
4. Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Okay, my memoir is: So many projects, so little time.

Not very profound, maybe, but it really is the story of my life.

Just a short list of unfinished or yet-to-be started projects:

1) Finish the 2005 and 2006 taxes.
2) Paint the front porch railings. Seal the front porch and steps. (I think this year is also the year I'm supposed to re-seal the back steps and deck. Oh, and the back porch needs painting, too.)
3) Measure the area I want for my raised bed garden, find a lumber yard and have boards cut to fit in the corner pieces I already bought. Research soil mixtures, buy many many bags of the stuff and dump it in. Buy plants and insert into the dirt.
4) Buy the mix for the plastic molds for stepping stones in the yard and down to the raised bed garden. I've had the molds for at least 3 years. Of course, I haven't figured out yet what all goody things I'm going to put in them, so I have to peruse yard sales for more marbles, glass I'm willing to break, etc.
5) Paint the master bedroom. We haven't painted anything but the master bath since we moved in in 2003, and that was only because we had the bathroom remodeled.
6) Make a list of the stuff I can't do and contact Loose Screws or Handyman Connection to come do it all.
7) Finish DD's sofa quilt. Fortunately, I only started this one last September, so it hasn't been long on my list.
8) Decide on trees and shrubs to fill in where I've lost trees the last few years, buy,and then plant them.
9) Reseed bare spots in yard.
10) Make summer table topper.
11) Cut and sew backings for, then sandwich, quilt and bind 6 tops.
12) Read photography book DD bought me for Christmas, as well as about 12 other books bought in the past year.

Let's don't even talk about the hook J-Man wants me to put on his end table, or the picture I wanted to hang that has been sitting on the back of the bookshelf since 2004, or the box of Cherry Ames books that I can't fit back in the sewing room and is just sitting in a corner of the guest room.

Sewing and quilting projects in various and sundry stages of non-completion have their own category, and their own zip-loc bags.

And then work wants me to come in extra for meetings, etc???? Are they NUTS?? I can't even figure out when to go on vacation!

Well, I visit all the blogs on my sidebar, but mostly lurk, so I'm going to leave the tagging part open. If you're up to the challenge, go for it! But please let me know so I can come read your memoir!

Christmas tips and ideas

Okay, I know I just posted a bunch of Autumn photos, and Thanksgiving is still to come, but Christmas is just around the corner, and I can't help thinking about it. Isn't that the way it is with most crafters? We are already thinking about the next event, the next holiday, the next season, so we can be prepared. Or not.
No, I haven't put up a tree yet, though I've seen two in the neighborhood--decorated already! It takes me a couple of weeks to get all the decorations in from the garage, and placed and the tree decorated, and then a month to get it all sorted, organized, repacked and put away again. Currently I have 13 large plastic bins of decorations

But AfricanKelli has a great post with some budget-saving tips for the season, and she has invited you to share your ideas, too. I've noticed some of you visit her blog, too, but maybe others of you don't know her. She's a terrific gal, just turned 28, works in the health care field, only she sets up health care for our poorer neighbors, like Bolivia, etc. She just finished her first triathlon, is very crafty, loves to bake, and writes a fun blog.

I'm going to re-write here the things we have done in the past to save money, to use what we have, just in case you don't get a chance to visit her blog.


Last year, I bought some very pretty large Santa and snowmen mugs at the dollar store and filled them with snack bags of mug mixes. If you google search, you can find lots to choose from. Attach the directions, and the recipe so more batches can be made, and you have a great gift for co-workers. Some only need water, other recipes need more added. My friends kept the simpler ones at work, so they would have them for quick sugar fixes or quick soups. (I think they also wanted to keep the goodies for themselves, too, since I made one-serving batches!) Peach cobbler in a mug was a big hit.


For some elderly neighbors, I put together soup mixes in pint jars (this one is ours) with the spices in a snack bag, and anything else non-perishable that was needed. In the box was also a little plastic Christmas snack plate, also purchased at the dollar store, filled with homemade cookies and covered with plastic wrap. Then I found these later on, and will fill them with cookies this year to give away.


This year, I'm going to make my co-workers some of those coasters like I made earlier in the year, only in Christmas fabrics. They are quick and easy to make up, and I have LOADS of Christmas fabrics that I'm getting tired of looking at. (Pardon the grammar.)

As for wrappings, well, I haven't bought new wrapping paper in several years. For out-of-family gifts, like the mugs, I will use paper, or the colored netting I found a bunch of at a yard sale a couple of years ago. Tied with a pretty ribbon, it's as nice as any paper. I also recycle gift bags, if they are in good condition, because they are so inexpensive anyway and because, well, you can reuse them.

In the immediate family, we wrap our gifts in fabric from my stash, and not necessarily Christmas fabric. Under the tree, it all looks beautiful and festive.

I provide plenty of safety pins, ribbons, lace, rickrack, buttons, etc. for embellishing.

J-Man has only the use of one hand, so wrapping and unwrapping are difficult for him. See the bag with the Christmas tree on the front? I made that as a gift bag for him, first to wrap his gifts in, and then to receive them in. I try to make a couple more each year, and they are always washable. Either the embellishments are washable, too (inside out) or they are made to be detached. Tags are made from recycled Christmas cards, or paper and rubber stamps from my stash.

Another option: take holiday cookie cutters and trace for a pattern. Then cut a pair of them from felt, whipstitch together, stuff with batting and attach a ribbon for hanging. (You can attach the ribbon while whipstitching the front and back together. They can be used as gift tags, ornaments, whatever. Our quilt group, who is hosting this year's holiday luncheon for the guild, is stuffing snowmen a little fatter and using them as pincushion favors. If you really want to go at it, cut the shapes from Christmas plaid, say, atitch all together on your machine, stuff them and attach the ribbon for hanging, if not already secured.

Now it's your turn. How are you going to stay within your budgets this year? Any suggestions for the rest of us? Add your comments here, or click on over to Africankelli's blog and add them there.
I'm eagerly waiting to read your suggestions and -money-saving ideas.

Edited to add: At J. Hittle's, you can order sewing supplies at wholesale, without having to buy in bulk. Every weekend, they email with the new specials of the week. A place where you can get fabric really inexpensively is Thousands of Bolts. Thought some of you may not have heard of these sites.

Crafting meme

Libby, at A Simple Girl, was tagged for a craft meme, and open-tagged anyone else. As this one caught my fancy, I'm going to play along.

1. When did you start to make and create crafts?
I remember making dresses from scraps of cloth for my Toni doll when I was about 8 years old, and I once furnished a little "house" for my Cracker Jacks plastic sailor boy using bits and pieces of items. Other than that, I'm not sure I really made anything else until I was in my 20's. Oh, I took Home Ec about 4 years total between 7th and 12th grades, but didn't do too well. I remember still making simple skirts in senior year while the other girls were making coats. My mom bought me a sewing machine for high school graduation and I made a few dresses in nursing school and when I first got married, but they weren't that great, and J-Man kind of discouraged that hobby.

2. Why did you start creating? Darned if I know. I loved reading, stank at sports, and was always a solitary child. I guess this was a natural segue into Things To Do When You're Alone.

3. Why do you create? Maybe it fulfills a long ago need to have something all my own, something that belongs to me. After all, I was the oldest of 4 kids, daughter to a steel worker, and money was tight. Rooms were shared, clothes were homemade or hand-me-downs, and privacy was at a premium. Then again, maybe it's
an attempt by an ordinary person to explore her unique-ness. But always, it's satisfying. Sometimes I feel like the little kid's voice at the end of the credits for The X-Files: " I made that."

4. What do you create? I still make things with bits of fabric: Quilts! Table runners, table toppers, wall-hangings, lap quilts, and bed quilts. I'm still a novice, but I can look at my early projects and see how I've improved. Then, of course, I look at other quilters' works and see how much I NEED to improve.

5. Has this changed since you began crafting? Ohh, yeah. First I started sewing simple skirts, shorts, and later, scrubs. Then a fellow nurse taught me to crochet and I did that for a while. Tried macrame, but that bored me. Needlepoint--also boring. Latch-hooking, ditto. Crewel--nice and did several pieces, then came cross-stitch. Cross-stitching was a lot of fun, but was a strain on my eyesight.


Michael's was offering calligraphy classes, so I signed up for that.

J-Man even gave me one of those small tilt tables and I did some certificates for my daughter's elementary school, but moved on to other crafts. I recently gave my pens and inks and supplies to a fellow nurse who started playing around with calligraphy. He was thrilled, because they were better pens and tips than he, as a single father, had bought for himself.

I took a few beading classes, and I still love to work with beads. I have done one project that incorporated beads and plan to do more. Then I got into rubber stamping, though not scrapbooking, and made my own Christmas cards and other projects for a few years. I miss that, and plan to make more time for that next year, once I'm no longer a group co-leader in my guild. I still have bins of paper, and an old medicine cart with little drawers all filled with stamps, scissor, inks, glitter and all kinds of goodies.


I took my first quilting class at a community education program back in the 70's, before, or maybe just as, quilting began to catch on. I'd decided my first quilt would be a Double Wedding Ring for my sister's wedding, all done by hand. (Yes, I hear the laughter echoing through blogging halls!) We'll save that story for another post.
Didn't do anything more with quilting until 1995 or 96, when J-Man's Christmas gift to me was the money for a quilting class at my local shop. It was a much better class, and I made a sampler lap quilt for my daughter, hand pieced and hand quilted. I was hooked, for life.

Okay, that's the end of that meme. Anyone else out there want to play?