Saturday, July 31, 2010

Weekend fun

You know what I love to do on a Saturday?  Go to the Goodwill Blue Hanger and dig through garbage and find cool stuff like this!















I found a whole set of this vintage American Tourister luggage!  I elected to only buy this piece, though, because, as cute as vintage luggage is, I'd rather pull my bright green suitcase on wheels behind me than lug a heavy suitcase in my arms.  All of the AT luggage I found was in EXCELLENT condition!  I don't know why it wasn't in a regular Goodwill store.  Look at the inside of this case!















It came with a clearish blue tray that goes inside as well.  It's got a little yellow on it, but it's otherwise in really good condition.














*LOVE* this thing.  I decided that each time I find a vintage case like this in good condition at the Blue Hanger store (which I usually do), I'm gonna go ahead and pick it up.  They're a cool thing to collect, and I can put all sorts of craft stuff in them!

I also found this Instamatic camera hanging out there.  It's dirty and missing parts, but I'm gonna clean it up and see if I can maybe find the parts online.  I won't use it, it's just my first vintage camera find, and I want it to look nice. 















I also found the most gorgeous vintage Royal typewriter that was dark green and brown.  Three things, though- it was broken, extremely heavy (meaning I'd probably pay a good bit for it, and I wasn't looking to spend a whole lot of money today), and I don't have a space for it.  Had it not been broken, I probably would have found a space for it!  I'm a silly girl, though, and forgot my phone, so I was unable to get a photo of it.  I fiddled around with it for a few minutes and couldn't figure out how to fix it.  It was soooo cute, though! 

I also made some more soap.  I'm gonna put it up in my Etsy shop.















We saw Dinner for Schmucks, which was very, very, funny, and then we went to Orangecup, which is a frozen yogurt shop in The Domain shopping center.  I was disappointed.  I am used to TCBY type frozen yogurt, which I suspect isn't REALLY yogurt at all, with all sorts of different flavors and toppings!  I was craving Mexican Vanilla or Vanilla Bean and gummy bears.  Alas, they have 4 flavors at Orangecup, and they were really yogurt.  I hate yogurt.  It's sour and gross and I can't get the taste out of my mouth for hours.   I ordered some, before I realized how not good it was, and was disappointed.  I got the yogurt guy to put some chocolatey crunchy things on it, though, so it was edible.  I feel so mean saying that, but I just don't like yogurt.  I'll stick with the TCBYish places from now on.  Now, if I could only find one around here...  I browsed Anthropologie while Allen played in the Apple store and I have found a new place to drool over.  They have such nice things for the house.  And cute clothes, but probably not many in my size.  And the candles... WOW.  So yummy smelling!!

We then went to Spec's so I could get some pineapple juice to make Malibu and pineapple drinks.  I also got some Lambic.  It's so delicious.  It's chilling right now, and I'll drink it later tonight.  I'm just gonna upload photos, rename them, blog, and read blogs the rest of the night.  Then, it's Star Trek:  The Next Generation before bed, and back to work tomorrow!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

No you DIDN'T!

I bought the book Subversive Crossstitch last month, and I've just now gotten around to trying my first project.  I think it came out rather well for my first time.  One bird is kinda funky, but I liked it that way, so I left it. 















I can't wait to try some of the other patterns! 

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Hello, Hello!

Hello, hello!  I’ve just gotten off work, and am super excited about blogging again! I wanted to blog yesterday, but I was hit with a small bout of food poisoning, so no blogging for me. 

I am working on a quilt.  I went to Mollie Johnanson’s blog, Wild Olive, and saw a cute baby quilt someone had done.  They used some of her adorable embroidery patterns on some of the patches.  Then I read Elsie’s blog over at A Beautiful Mess, and looked at her home tour.  She said that she keeps a light quilt on the bed for summer.  I have huge comforters that I keep, since we keep the apartment so cold at night, but I always end up shucking the comforter, so I thought maybe I should try using just a quilt.  Comforters look nice, and I suppose I could keep a comforter handy as well, but in Texas, it does get hot, so I thought I’d make a really cool patchwork quilt to keep on the bed when it’s not cold out.  I have two quilts already- one handed down from my great granny Derrick, and one my granny made in hopes I’d have a baby.  It’s big for a baby quilt.  I mean, it covers me!  And I think maybe a third, and maybe even more, may be in order.  It’s nearing the end of summer, yes, I know, but it’s still hot as crap outside, and I don’t think it’ll get anywhere near cool until like November at the earliest, so I still have time to don the quilts!  Yes!!  Here is a preview.















So, what I basically did is figure out how big I want the quilt to be. I want it huge.  I just do.  So, I took the measurements of my bed.  I decided how big I wanted the squares to be, and d ecided on 6 inches.  My bed is 56 inches wide and 79 long.  It’s hard to explain, since I’m not math minded, but I figured out that I wanted my quilt to be 60 inches wide and 84 inches long.  Those both divide evenly into 6 inch squares, so I have 10 across and 14 down.  That sounds like a way complicated math equation, like something that may be on some crazy test in high school, right???

Luckily, I, for some reason, purchased a quilt block template to make 6.5” squares a long time ago.  I tried to use a rotary cutter on a self healing mat.  That did not work.  I have to press way too hard, and it hurts my funky wrist.  So, I just traced around the square 140 TIMES!!!! And then cut them all out.  All 140 of them, by hand.  Wow.

I am currently sewing the rows of 10 together.  I have 6 or 7 done.  I’m doing it all by hand, since I think that’s the only way to really do a quilt, and anyone who knows me knows I hate to use sewing machines.  It’s going surprisingly quickly, too! So, here is a photo of some of the rows.  I’m super excited to get it all pieced together.  THEN, I get to pick out some fabric for the back.  I’m thinking cupcakes…

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Slackerella

Dear, oh dear!  It's been FOREVER since I've blogged!  I'm sorry about that.  I just haven't had much computer time lately- Allen was using my computer to copy some stuff, and we've been watching a lot of streaming Netflix, so that slows down any photo uploads considerably.  Now, we're taking a break from all of that, and I've gotten my creative mojo back, and I'll be blogging again soon!  I do have some photos to share of some cool stuff I've made since I've blogged last.

The first shirt is a Sublime Stitching pattern, I think. The "Homeskillet" one I purchased but can't remember who created it. Lolliop forest is my design, and the pink shirt and last two bibs are Sublime Stitching designs.



































































































































All of the above is available at Moxie.  I may also put some in my Etsy store too.   In fact, yes, I will.  The hair clips and bibs are available in my Etsy shop. 


Another entry coming soon.  I just wanted to get this done while I had some time and while I was thinking about it and on the computer!