Recycled Sweater Fest and Other Happenings in the Secret Laboratory

So, my table has been piled up with projects for months now and I since I am getting to work more, I thought that I would spend the weekend finishing up some of my personal projects to get them off the table. I have had these sweaters for a couple of years with the purpose of making new out of the old, and I did! The red one was a merino wool turtleneck sweater that is now a shrug with frilly edging and little strawberry appliques. The pink one is two different sweaters with some pleating and stitching done in bright turquoise yarn. Fun stuff! Now that they are off my table, I not only have room to work, but, and it's a BIG BUT, I have room for more leathery projects. Feels good to get in the lab again!

Today, I am concentrating on trying out some low carb bread and cracker recipes for myself. Since my blood sugar seems to want to hover at an "interesting" level most times, I am trying out the low carb, low sugar way of life. I just pulled a big loaf of flax foccacia bread out of the oven and it smells sooooo good!

After the baking experiments are done, I am going to hopefully get some appliques sewn and one of those collars I keep talking about actually done. Cross your fingers for me!

I'm Free!

You can't see me but I'm doing a little dance right now to celebrate being done with all my paper-worky stuff! Now I can spend my weekend doing fun stuff with all the leathery goodness that needs my attention! Hopefully I will have new stuff to show off in the next couple of days! Yay! Off for a coffee and a cookie and walk in the sun!

Six Months!

We are proudly celebrating Ms. Ed's six month anniversary here with us. We started the day with her first bowl of rice cereal.........she's not a fan so far. I can't believe how fast time flies! Rock on little Ed! We look forward to the next six months and way, way, way beyond!

In All of Humboldt County.....

This is my favorite house. I used to walk by it everyday on my very long walk home from work many, many years ago and dream of one day acquiring it and fixing it up for me and my cats to live in. I would be so happy there making my art, working in my little studio designed specifically for me by me. I would sit in the front yard and drink tea and coffee on foggy mornings enjoying the quiet. I would have friends and family come visit whenever they felt like and just enjoy their company. Most of all, I would have somewhere safe and wonderful to call home. It was would be my refuge from all the really miserable crap that was happening in my life at the time. Sadly, I never was able to get much information about the house other than the owner lived out of the area and didn't want to rent or sell it. Bummer. So whenever we make it out to the bottoms for a nice long walk like we did yesterday, I always check on my friend. My friend, this wonderful little Victorian farmhouse, is now melting into the earth as I write this. When I first visited it was abandoned but stood by itself with windows and yard intact, just dark and lonely. Now it is still intact but each window is boarded up and it is fenced in with barbed wire, KEEP OUT! signs, and overgrown shrubs and berry brambles. Now it actually looks sick and lonely, which makes my heart ache a bit. I did tell my old friend that I if I couldn't come to it's rescue and bring it back to it's former lovely self, that, I hoped and wished that some wonderful person out there would, and love it as much as I do.

Lip Balm Eatin' Wallet makin' Fun.

Adventures abound this week! My little son has discovered the joys of lip balm but instead of keeping his lips soft and supple, he would rather keep his inside well greased. He's eaten three of my lip balms this week so far. Luckily, one was homemade, and the other two are mostly cocoa butter and coconut oil. I was so crafty though! I melted down the remnants of all three and added a bit of one of my super bright pink lipsticks that I don't wear because of it's super brightness, and voila! a beautiful fuchsia pink lip tint just for me!

This week has been going really well. I was able to finish, photograph, and list a few things this week without interruption. With a big thank you to Ed and Ciaran, I now have a few wallets to offer through my etsy shop. The wristlet sold already! I was so excited, this weekend I hope to get a few more cut out and glued so I can get them up as well. I think I will do three different designs just to liven things up.

Today is going to be another adventurous one. We are heading downtown for soup ingredients, antique buttons and interfacing and whatever else we spy along the way. I am seriously addicted to collecting my antique and vintage beads and baubles now! Someone stop me! (Not really though, as I plan to make a whole heck of a lot of goodness with all of them:) I can't wait to share what I come up with if it all doesn't suck!

Easter Madness!

So Easter was a pretty good time this year. LOTS of candy, ham, and eggs! Ciaran was so excited to get his working truck set and a bunch of jelly beans and m&m's from the Easter bunny. I had to cut him off after he ate an entire bag of peanut m&m's and then started in on the jelly beans. So he decided to fill up his big yellow truck with all of the jelly beans and cruise around the living room with one of his hot chicks that his auntie sent him. Little chick is quite a daredevil climbing out of the sunroof like that!

Since there were many festivities I didn't really get to work on much other than finish Edolie's little Easter dress. It turned out really cute and although it was a bit too big for her still, she looked pretty cute in it, if I may say so myself. I tried to get a good picture of it but she had to be all bundled up and every time I took a picture of her she came out all fuzzy. Oh well, I tried!

So now I get to get my butt going this week on sewing, designing, and of course I am always cutting and gluing. I have a few wallets done, a few almost there, and a collar that is just about ready to go! I wish I had someone with a pretty and less "fluffy" neck than mine to model it for my photos. Maybe I can think of some fun way to shoot it without having to have it modeled. It would just be so nice to see it as it is meant to be worn. I guess I will just have to see what happens.

There will be No Napping Here.

As I write this Ciaran is running laps from the front door to the bookcase in a sort of half run, half skip, half hop, and Ms. Edolie is singing to her musical lamb in her loudest screechy voice while kicking her feet and waving her arms like she is trying to swim away some where. It is supposed to be nap time, but neither of the kiddos have fallen under the sleepy nap fairy spell. Ciaran stopped taking naps a few months ago and enjoys "quiet time" in his room each afternoon. His quiet time consists of dumping out all of his containers of little cars all over the floor. Today happens to be an exception, he is enjoying "quiet time" out in the living room with Ed and myself because the neighbors are being noisy and he got too scared to be in his room by himself. Little Ed never really naps for more than twenty minutes at a time. I have come to accept that this is how it will have to be with the two lovelies for a bit. I did promise that when they are teenagers and want to sleep all day, I will seek my revenge!

So, all the wonderful new things I made this week are slowly being photographed and readied for their big introduction. I hope to have at least one or two pieces listed later today, but with these kiddos, I never hold my breath. Have a lovely Easter Sunday all!