Art and Music - A Little Video
I have no idea who sings this or does the artwork, but I love it. Just felt like sharing.
I have no idea who sings this or does the artwork, but I love it. Just felt like sharing.
Little Miss loves to color and ever since she discovered the joy of taping up her colorings on the wall, she is even more excited to do more and more (and more and more . . .)
I thought I'd share the latest:
So, remember the Magpie Patterns/Progressive Pioneer giveaway I won awhile back? I got the goods the other day. And yes, I really felt like a winner. I may or may not have jumped up and down with the overstuffed envelope when Mr. Skooks handed it to me.
And since you're simply DYING to know what I picked out of the vast wealth of adorable patterns available, I'll let you in so you can drown in jealousy celebrate with me.
No surprise on this first one. As I alluded to when I assumed I wasn't going to win, I went ahead and got this:
Here's a little visual of how a sewing machine works. Something I just take for granted when I sit down and let Connie (my Singer Quantum Confidence 7470 for those of you not yet familiarized with her) do her thang. Just felt like sharing. Because I spend way too much time looking at randomness on the ole inter-web.
Determined to put both some new patterns and my new serger to work, I wrecked myself on sleep this weekend. As in, I was having such a good time sewing that I managed to stay up until almost 6 am on Saturday morning. And would you look at that, it's 4:15 in the morning now on Sunday. Yes, I'm a mom of young children and no longer a college student. I'm gonna be a mess tomorrow today.
Ah, but it was so much fun!
I had been playing around with my new scissors and cut apart 5 t-shirts a few weekends ago. As you may recall, my effort at making them into something new didn't really pan out at that time. But armed with my new serger (and a free weekend), I put myself to the test. I had purchased a Recycled T-Shirt Halter Dress Pattern from lilblueboo and was thrilled that I finally had a worthy reason to dip into my giant T stash.
Sidebar: In high school, college, and through most of my 20s I was a major hoarder collector of Ts. All kinds of em. I know a lot of people out there do this so it's kind of lame to say it was my thing. Except it kinda was my thing. My hands down best find was in a Goodwill back in college: a navy blue tee with neon green writing of the W.C. Fields quote, "Never cheat an honest man; never give a sucker an even break, and never wise up a chump." Such a completely random thing. Don't know who would've owned the shirt previous or where the world they would have gotten it in the first place, but I was glad to find it. To be honest, I didn't even realize it was a W.C. Fields thing until I was watching the old movie it's from with my dad a few years ago and recognized the quote. End of Sidebar.
Anyway, I completely took over the entirety of the downstairs. Our dining room table became (as Mr. Skooks dubbed it) my sewing factory. What he actually said was, "You used to just sew. Now you've got a whole sewing factory set up downstairs. It's kind of taking over." He was absolutely correct. Here's a small peek:
One thing that continually bothers me the more I get into sewing is my sheer lack of time. I have 2 kids under the age of 3 who keep me *very* busy. I also work from home. As it stands, my whole dining room table is overflowing with craft supplies and patterns. There is also a beautiful new SERGER sitting amongst the piles just BEGGING me to come play. But where is the time?
Yes, yes, YES. I got myself a serger (the Brother 1034D) with my Christmas money. It arrived at my doorstep on Friday, just hours before I was set to take off for the weekend. One of my sisters lives on the east coast and was taking a trip to visit our parents, so our clan drove down to Chicago for the festivities. It was a fantastic weekend! Lots of laughter, some good game-playing (ever heard of Words of Wiz-Dumb? With the right people, this is a HILARIOUS game), and my sister got to get some kiddo time in with my 2 nieces, Little Miss, and Kee-ku. I am so glad we went and would not trade our time together for anything.
With that being said, the weekends are usually my only opportunities to get my craft on. Oftentimes whatever work I can't get to while Mr. Skooks is at work (and I'm home alone with the kids), gets done late at night after we have had dinner and spent some time together in the evenings as a family. These are the choices that I make. And I'm not lamenting family time. I'm not even lamenting work. In this economy, I truly know daily how blessed I am to even have a job, let alone one that allows me to be with my kids all day. But something has to get pushed to the back-burner, and in my case my sewing exploits get the shaft.
With all this in mind, I have decided to set myself some goals. Because I so very much want to do more and learn more and, for the love, I want to play with my new serger! So I am proposing this to myself: I'd like to enter a few contests. For fun. With the understanding that this is something that I am doing for myself. I think they will motivate me to try new things and will put me under a little bit of pressure to actually get some projects done. At the moment I have 4 or 5 projects going, and between all the blogs I read and books and magazines on sewing I have acquired in the last few months, I have PLENTY of ideas. No lack of inspiration here.
Maybe you'd like to push yourself a bit too? Check into these contests I am (planning on) entering. I am not assuming I will win nor am I even necessarily trying to win. I just want to participate and hook up with others to see what directions they decide to take with their crafts. Keep in mind I have done nothing towards actually making anything to enter yet, so I need a couple "you-can-do-it"s from y'all to get me going. ;)
3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
People are never really sure if they have milk. You think you have milk, you might have.
"I know there's a carton in there, I don't know how much is in it."
"Well, what shall we do?"
'Cause you wanna be sure. There's nothing worse than thinking you have milk and not having it. You know, you got the bowl setup, the cereal, the spoon, the napkin, the TV, the newspaper, everything's ready to go. You lift up the carton and it's too light.
"Oh, no! Too light!"
Perhaps I should write more blog posts about all the giveaways I assume I'll lose. Maybe that's the ticket. Why, you may ask?
Because when I opened my email this evening I had a lovely message waiting for me from Amy at the Progressive Pioneer:
Hello!I may have done the happy dance a little too abruptly (Kee-ku was on my lap and got a might bit startled by the whole thing). Yes, that's $50 in pattern money for me!
Congratulations; you're the winner of the Magpie Patterns gift certificate! I'll forward your email to them and let them tell you how to proceed.
Happy crafting!
I started this post off with the intention of telling you why it is that I did not get any farther on my *t-shirt deconstruction into fabulous and funky child's dress* this weekend. So let me start there.
Although my materials were laid out on the dining room table (my official "staging area") waiting for me to sew the pieces together, I was finding it hard to begin. You see, after I wrote this post about what to do with my $125 sewing fund, I got the go-ahead from Mr. Skooks to purchase a serger. I was BEYOND excited. He had come into the office/playroom/multipurpose room no less than 8 times while I was reading up on reviews for this little Brother machine and asked me about the price. Realizing the difference between what it cost and what I already had, he told me to just go for it. All this after I had tried to explain the difference between a sewing machine and a serger and why it's not an either/or kind of decision. (He asked me several times with a quizzical look: "Does that mean you're getting rid of your sewing machine?" Um . . . NO. I believe I've mentioned more than once how much I am in love with my sewing machine.)
So I was off! With an extra spring in my step, I was off to Jo-Ann with my gift card in hand, ready to take the plunge into serger-hood. The problem started when I got there and skipped into the sewing machine department. Not a Brother in sight. Just a chipper sales gal who was quite taken aback when I asked where the Brother machines were.
Chipper Sales Gal, sounding less than chipper: We don't sell Brother machines here.
Me: Really? That's odd. I actually came here to get it because I see that it's on sale on the website. I should have called first, I guess.
CSG: What website?
Me: Umm . . .the Jo-Ann website? (I felt like an idiot, but as you can see, I was correct.)
CSG: Are you sure?
Me: Yeah. It's the only reason I drove out here actually. Well, that and I need some spray starch.
CSG: We're a Huskvarna/Pfaff/Viking/Singer retailer. I don't know why they would be selling our competition.
Me: Yeah, I have absolutely no idea (glancing around at the other sergers that were out and seeing that the cheapest one was over $1,000). It's ok though, I'll just order it online I guess.
After this, CSG tried to redirect me to the lower-end Singer model that they had on sale for $20 more than the Brother I had been looking at online. While it did look all shiny and new (and would have looked perfectly at home with Connie since it was a Singer after all), I wasn't giving in. You see, I'm a research-a-holic. It's to the point where when I come to Mr. Skooks with an idea for something, he usually needs very little coaxing since he knows how I obsess over pride myself on being an informed shopper. I had read reviews on the Singer model and, without being rude, listed some of the pros and cons of this one over that one. She could see that I wasn't going to change my mind (though the fact that Jo-Ann offers free classes to get you acquainted with and troubleshoot your machine - should you buy from them - is a very sensible idea), and I went about my not-so-merry way to find the spray starch.
By the time I got home, I had decided 2 things:
Mr. Skooks has extremely generous parents and grandparents. For Christmas this year Grandma and Grandpa gave me a $50 gift card to Jo-Ann. Woot! If that wasn't exciting enough, my wonderful in-laws gave me a check for $75 to be spent on *sewing supplies*. Woot Woot! (Yes, they specified its use right in the lil memo line.) Permission to spend $$ on sewing? Permission granted!
Now comes the plotting. And the scheming. How much can I get for $125? Do I go for quantity (explore the ole notions wall and go wild)? Do I go for fabric (dare I say that even with my limited quilting experience that I'd like to buy my first jelly roll - or 2 - or 3)? Do I get some schmancy snippers, thread snips, and/or a better seam ripper a la Gingher? New books filled with patterns/inspiration? Or do I pony up some of my own dough and put it towards a serger? My goodness I would like a serger. I just demolished 5 t-shirts for a dress-making project for Little Miss and a serger would finish it off *so* deliciously.
What would you do? I have been to Jo-Ann twice since Christmas and have yet to put the money down on the counter for anything. Too indecisive.
For reals. What would you get if someone was forcing you to spend money on creative stuff? (Yes, they are making me spend money on myself. Woe is me. :P )
P.S. I wasn't kidding about the t-shirts. They will never return to their former glory. And they WILL be made into something(s) new this weekend. With or without a serger.
Came across this amazing post. Realizing there should be more hours in the day with which to create.
So many many more.
This charming fable for our times celebrates the joy of giving. A generous quiltmaker, with magic in her fingers, sews the most beautiful quilts in the world, then gives them away. A greedy king, his storehouse stuffed with treasures, yearns for something that will make him happy . . . Will the quiltmaker sew a quilt for the king? Will the king ever learn to share? Can the quiltmaker teach the king to be happy? What will the king do with all his splendid things? Look for clues to the story in the quilts.For anyone looking for a beautifully drawn story that captures the spirit of generosity and selflessness, check this one out. (Upon first glance it may seem a bit wordy for a 2 year old, but in L.M.'s case, the elaborate illustrations keep her fixated long after the text has been read.)
For the last few days I have been away celebrating the close of the year 2009 and the opening of the year 2010 with some of my best friends in the world. They are not the ones I see on a regular basis. In fact, none of them even live in the same state as me (not anymore anyway). We all went to college together and have been gathering to celebrate the dawn of the new year as a group since NYE 2004. I'm borrowing the words of one of them to give you an accurate idea of who they are to me as I'm sure she won't mind: these are the SOUL friends. Honestly, it makes me so happy that we do this every NYE that my countdown to the next year starts immediately when the clock strikes 12 and the goofy ball drops. Oh, but how I wish there was a way to gather all the people who bring real joy into your heart and make them live by you forever. If you know of such a way, please tell me. I'd also like to be able to do this with my family, all of whom live in different places about the U.S. [sniff]
Anyway, NYE. It's been a thing since that first time back when we were on the brink of 2005 that every year we came up with a theme for the new year. This theme usually came out of something idiotic either said, done, or seen sometime during the NYE weekend. A few years ago we decided that we needed to integrate more crafty exploits in our lives and it became our theme. The goal the next year was not nearly as fun (or memorable . . . it's not coming to me at the moment what it was . . .), so we decided that in addition to the agreed upon goal we would continue to add in the creative good times. Last year we did this by customizing an old Clue board with our own twists (customized playing pieces and cards included).
This year we did it by making *BUTTONS*.
Our hostess had procured a Badge a Minit kit from her church which we used to forever memorialize the idiocy that is NYE with the Superfriends. Not the cartoon. We're such a force to be reckoned with, it's what we've dubbed ourselves. Before I share with you one example of the genius that is button-making, I must relay a little story from our weekend together:
It is New Year's Day 2010 . . . the time is maybe 9am? I wake up to the sounds of several people trying to get into the room I'm sleeping in. I am ridiculously tired (Kee-ku was a bit challenging to put to sleep on NYE) and wonder why there is so much fiddling with the door. As far as I know it locks automatically when it shuts, but the rest of the friends have the key. I finally peel my eyes open and jump out of bed as I'm now fearing that all this fumbling with the lock is going to wake Kee-ku who is still sleeping in the room with me. I open the door to Mr. Skooks whose first words are, "I have really bad news." It's New Year's Day 2010. Bad news already? Oy.
Here's the story. At 3am, some idiot decided to break into our car. This was discovered by our hostess who noticed the broken window as she was taking the trash out to the dumpster. The nasty brick that was used to gain entry into our old (but very important to us!) mini-van was still laying on the driver's seat. Glass was everywhere. And although there was $20 cash in the glove box (which was rifled through), and 2 iPods in plain view (don't ask me why), the only thing they took was the GPS which had been stashed under the seat. The GPS that we borrowed from work. Ugh. We haven't had an incident with our van since we acquired it a few years ago, so I wasn't sure what the insurance coverage *exactly* was anymore. I was figuring we had a deductible and some of our modest Christmas bonus was about to be spent on some yahoo's thievery. To make a long story short(er), it turns out we had coverage for just such an incident and our window was fixed and a promise was made by our insurance agent that we would get a new GPS in the mail. More times than not being able to find the comedy in the tragedy, this little guy was made and given to Mr. Skooks as a remembrance of the event: